Just Around the Corner
by fagur fiskur
Summary: Season 2 AU. Due to a malfunctioning remote, Kurt and Rachel get transported to the black and white TV show Pleasantville, where they replace the main characters. They meet dreamboat Blaine Anderson, Rachel's designated love interest, and try their best to fit in, although in a town where no one has heard of sex or the outside world, that may be easier said than done. KLAINE
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** So I actually posted this back in February. The second chapter, too. After denouncing all things Glee I took it down, thinking that I'd never want to finish it. Then Glee dragged me kicking and screaming back into the fandom and I somehow found inspiration to continue this ridiculousness. I'll post the next chapter tomorrow, then weekly updates until I run out of chapters to post. I'm a few chapters ahead right now, so hopefully that won't happen until the story is finished.

Now for the actual story notes. I got the idea for this while watching Pleasantville for the dozenth time. I just love the hell out of that movie - even though I do think it's a bit heavy-handed in its message, I really adore the way it celebrates all the things that make life worth living; art, literature, music, love, sex, etc. There's no real reason why I picked Glee to cross it over with (although this isn't really a crossover, more a fusion), except that I think Blaine has a ridiculously adorable fifties charm about him and I've no doubt he'd fit in the movie's setting perfectly. There's no need to have seen the movie to understand the fic, although I recommend watching it anyway ;)

PS: The title is taken from the tagline for Pleasantville - It's just around the corner!

* * *

**Just Around the Corner**

* * *

**Chapter 1**

Kurt wasn't quite sure what he'd done to deserve this. Being single on Valentine's day was bad enough, but having to put up with Rachel's moping about Finn surely had to constitute as some sort of torture.

It wasn't exactly as if the rest of his year had been all that good, either. Sure, they'd won Sectionals and as of October, Kurt had gained two new family members. But then, this was also the year of his dad's heart attack and all the misguided attempts at comfort made by his friends in its wake. This was also the year of the Britney debacle and the Sam debacle-that-might-have-been if Finn hadn't derailed Kurt's crush quite so early on. This was also the year of Karofsky's escalated bullying and Kurt's discovery of the reason behind it.

This was also the year of The Kiss (capital letters to emphasize the horror) and every creepy look, touch and comment made by Karofsky thereafter. This was the year Kurt dreaded going to school in the morning, not just out of fear for his safety but for his _virtue_. This was the year he'd discovered that despite his friends', family's and, yes, even Sue Sylvester's best intentions, Kurt was still on his own when it came to the bullying, and everything else for that matter.

He'd started the year so optimistically. Yet somehow, it was turning out even worse than Sophomore year.

So if Kurt didn't feel like tolerating Rachel Berry's whining on the loneliest night of a very lonely year, that didn't make him selfish or a bad person. It just made him very tired.

Still, when she turned up at his door after ditching some celebration or another at Breadstix, Kurt hadn't quite had it in him to turn her away. Not when she brought two boxes of Haagen Daz raspberry sorbet with her.

He stepped aside with a sigh. "Two rules. No going near Finn's room, he's resting and he doesn't need any drama right now." Rachel looked only mildly disappointed at that, which at least convinced Kurt that she was actually there to see him and not his stepbrother. "And I get to pick what we're watching."

"Deal," Rachel said happily and strolled in.

One and a half hour later and Kurt was really regretting his short-sightedness. Since Rachel wasn't going to get to see Finn, she seemed determined to make up for it by talking about him. Nonstop. Excepting for small pauses every now and then to sing along with The Sound of Music or to talk about Quinn.

"-and she's not even that pretty, I mean, if you _really_ look at her. She's got knobby knees, and her smile is _super _creepy-"

"Rachel," Kurt cut in. "I get it. Quinn is a hideous she-troll. Finn is an idiot, and they will both be stuck in Lima forever while you go on to New York to star in your first Broadway production at the tender age of nineteen. There, I just summed it up for you. Now will you _please stop talking_."

Rachel snapped her mouth shut with a hurt expression on her face. "I'm sorry," she sniffed. "I came here looking for a little sympathy from a friend. I guess I expected too much of you."

Kurt stared at her blankly. He knew smacking Rachel was not a good idea but right now he was having a really hard time remembering why.

"Let's just watch the rest of the movie," he finally said.

And they did, in relative silence. By the time the credits started rolling, Rachel had scooted over on the couch and laid her head on Kurt's shoulder as a sort of peace offering. Kurt had to admit that it felt nice. He hadn't spent any quality time like this with Mercedes in way too long and none of his other friends were really all that touchy-feely.

They sat there until the DVD menu popped back up on the screen.

"Do you feel like another?" Kurt asked as he stood up.

Rachel yawned and scratched her head, but nodded.

Kurt browsed through the shelf of DVDs next to the TV, but none of the titles really captured his interest. Then he had an idea.

"Stay here for a moment," he instructed Rachel, because if she didn't have strict orders otherwise, she was well liable to sneak up to the second floor and take a couple of strolls past Finn's bedroom.

Kurt ran down to the basement and returned with an old frayed box labeled 'Lizzie's Collection'.

"What's that?" Rachel asked.

"My mom's movie collection," Kurt answered breathlessly. "The tapes are a little old, though, so they might not be of the best quality."

He put the box down on the floor and Rachel jumped off the couch to join him.

Kurt hadn't looked through those films since his dad and Carole had been off on their honeymoon but the titles were more familiar to him than those of his own collection. There were several old Disney films, along with some silent Charlie Chaplin ones and even a couple of French titles. Mostly, though, there were arrays of old romantic comedies from the Hays Code era.

Right at the bottom was exactly what Kurt had been looking for. A row of tapes titled _Pleasantville _Season 1-3. This was exactly the sort of mindless, family friendly, saccharine sweet dribble Kurt needed to forget the mess that was his life for a while. He loved this show for the exact same reason he really should have hated it for- nothing ever happened in it. It was just a show about the pleasant, boring lives of a bunch of pleasant, boring people. It was pure escapism.

"I've never heard of this show," Rachel said when Kurt showed her the tapes.

"It's not particularly memorable," Kurt replied wryly. "But it was my mom's favorite show. She loved it completely non-ironically."

He pulled out a tape from season 2, which had such gripping episode titles as 'The Mystery of the Missing Diary', 'Test Day' and 'The Parkers' New Pet'.

Rachel frowned at the tape cover. "'Every day is pleasant in Pleasantville'," she read. "What is this show even about?"

"Nothing," Kurt said happily, inserting the tape into the VCR.

"Okay," Rachel said slowly. "Are there at least musical numbers in it?"

"Nope."

The familiar title sequence began playing on the screen, only it looked a little off.

"Is it supposed to look so green?" Rachel asked.

Kurt picked up the remote and pushed some random buttons, having no idea of how to fix it.

Rachel sighed. "Let me do it."

"Do you know how?" Kurt asked, a little annoyed.

"No, but I'm a better guesser than you," Rachel said, grabbing at the remote. She managed to get a hold of one end of it, but Kurt held firmly onto it as well.

Kurt ground his teeth. "It's my television, I can handle it."

"Kurt, don't be so stubborn," Rachel insisted, pulling at the remote.

Kurt pulled back, feeling a little immature when he realized that he was engaged in a tug-o-war with Rachel Berry over a _remote control_. But he'd be damned if he gave up.

Rachel proved surprisingly strong for such a little person but Kurt still felt confident that he could beat her. He was so focused that he failed to notice the world around them beginning to blur into static and that underneath his and Rachel's bickering, a steady, growing buzz was beginning to sound.

Suddenly, a blindingly bright light filled his vision. Kurt let go of the remote and went stumbling backwards.

"What just happened?" He demanded in panic when he'd gained his footing.

"I don't know," Rachel whimpered from somewhere in front of him. "I can't see anything."

Kurt blinked his eyes a couple of times and finally, his vision began to return. What he saw shocked him.

It was Rachel, but... not. She had blonde, short hair, meticulously groomed into a fashionable fifties bob, and her nose looked about half its usual size. Instead of her normal clothing, she was wearing a sweater that actually looked quite flattering on her, and a large poodle skirt that did not.

She was also in black and white.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Chapter two, as promised! Chapter three will be up no later than the same time next week. Not much happens in this chapter, nor does it deviate too much from the movie. Things will kick into gear come next chapter, though. There are a couple of lines of Betty's dialogue taken from the movie, but other than that it's all my own writing.

* * *

**Chapter 2**

Kurt wasn't sure how long he and Rachel stood still, staring in horrified silence at each other. Probably a good ten minutes. Finally, he managed to tear his eyes away from the terrifyingly (and there was really no other word for it) Fabrayic transformation of Rachel's face and hair. Their surroundings were as monochromatic as they themselves, and also strangely familiar.

"Oh God," Rachel bemoaned. "Kurt, what's happened? Why can't I see in color?"

"Relax, you're not the only one," Kurt quickly assured her.

Rachel wrapped her arms around herself. "Where are we?" She demanded, as if Kurt could offer any explanation.

Although maybe he could.

"I think we're inside the show," he said slowly, feeling a little crazy for saying it out loud. "That would explain why we're not in color. Although I'm not sure about your sudden nose job," he added.

Rachel let out an inhuman squeak and covered her nose. "It's gone!"

"It's not gone," Kurt said. "It's just smaller." Seeing Rachel's horrified face, he decided against mentioning her new hair color. "Isn't there anything different about me?"

Rachel shook her head, still looking upset. "Your clothes and hairstyle have changed, but you still look like you."

Kurt's hand automatically flew to his hair and he grimaced when he came in touch with it. Slicked back by what felt like half a gallon of hair gel. Disgusting.

"This has to be a dream, right?" Rachel demanded.

Kurt bit his lip. "Maybe. I don't think so. This feels too real to be a dream, doesn't it?"

"Depends on what you define as 'real'," Rachel said sadly, feeling her nose again.

"Bud, Mary Sue!" called an unfamiliar voice. "Breakfast is on the table!"

Kurt and Rachel turned around to see a woman standing in the doorway. Kurt recognized her as Bud and Mary Sue's mother - Betty Parker was her name. She smiled at him with an expectant look in her eyes.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" She urged.

"Uh," said Kurt. "We're coming?"

Betty smiled. "Hurry up, then, dears. You can't go off to school without a hot breakfast inside you."

She turned and walked back the way she came. Kurt and Rachel shared dumbfounded glances.

"We're not just in the show," Kurt whimpered. "We've become the characters."

"We need to get home, now," Rachel said. "Where's the remote?"

There was a short silence and Kurt's blood ran cold. "I thought you had it."

Rachel's eyes widened and in the next instance, they were both down on the floor. Kurt peeked under the table, while Rachel searched around the television.

"What are you two doing?"

Kurt raised his head, banging it against the table in the progress. It was Betty again.

"We- we were looking-" Rachel stammered.

"-For Mary Sue's glasses," Kurt quickly improvised, remembering the hideous cateye glasses the character had worn sometimes on the show. "She thinks she may have dropped them in the living room."

"You left them on the kitchen counter last night, sweetheart," Betty said helpfully. "Now come eat your breakfast, it's getting cold."

Kurt and Rachel shared a solemn look and stood up slowly. They obediently marched to the kitchen, dragging their feet behind them.

"We'll look again later," Kurt whispered and Rachel nodded miserably. "Best to play along for now."

Truthfully, he was still sort of waiting to wake up from this.

They stopped short in the kitchen doorway. Betty stood by the table, where a man Kurt recognized as Bud and Mary Sue's father (George, if he remembered correctly) sat.

Rachel let out something that sounded suspiciously like a small sob and Kurt had to agree with the sentiment. On the table in front of them stood plates upon plates loaded with pancakes, waffles, scrambled eggs, French toast, muffins, cookies, bacon, ham and sausages. All of that was topped off with more butter and syrup than Kurt had eaten or even seen in the past five years.

"Well, sit down and dig in," Betty said with a serene smile.

"I'm not all that hungry," Rachel managed to croak.

Kurt swallowed heavily, already feeling the grease and fat clogging up his pores. "Neither am I."

Betty and George laughed - _laughed - _as if refusing to digest 5000 calories for breakfast was somehow unreasonable.

"Don't be silly," Betty tittered. "Sit down."

She walked up to them and gently tugged at Rachel's arm. Rachel stared at Kurt in a way that reminded him remarkably of Ms. Pillsbury. When Betty tugged at her again, she reluctantly sat down in the nearest chair. Kurt followed suit, despite every inch of his body aching to run as far away from the fattening feast as possible. Suddenly playing along didn't seem like such a good idea.

Betty smiled at them and grabbed two plates. Upon them she loaded a little bit of everything lying on the table. When she was done, she poured two generous glasses of milk and put the whole mess down in front of Kurt and Rachel.

"I can't eat this," Rachel muttered, looking near tears. "There's meat in it."

"Mary Sue, a growing girl like you needs a little bit of meat in every meal," Betty admonished.

Rachel sniffled and picked up a piece of French toast, nibbling delicately at the corners of it to avoid the butter.

"She's got a stomach ache," Kurt said, earning him a grateful look from Rachel. "We've got a geography test coming up and she's really nervous."

"There's no need for a smart girl like you to worry," George said, laying a comforting hand on Rachel's shoulder. "I'm sure you'll do swell!"

"But she'd best stick to orange juice and toast for now," Kurt quickly continued. "Just in case."

Betty sighed. "I don't like the thought of her not eating properly, but if Mary Sue feels ill then it's best to let her recover." She smiled at Kurt. "But you make sure you eat plenty enough for the both of you, then."

She and George laughed again. Kurt looked down at his overloaded plate, feeling something turn in his stomach. His only comfort was that the damage to his skin wouldn't be quite as visible in black and white.

* * *

Rachel tackled Kurt with a hug as soon as they were outside.

"Thank you so much," she muttered into his shoulder.

"Don't mention it," Kurt said. "Seriously. Don't. I feel queasy enough without thinking about all the junk I just put into my body."

Rachel pulled back and straightened out her sweater. "I understand. If I'd had to take even one bite of what she was serving us, I'd have probably thrown up."

Kurt nodded with a forced smile.

They started walking, going in no particular direction.

"I still don't understand," Rachel said, making Kurt look up. She had her hand over her nose.

"I think I do," he mused. "If we've really taken on the roles of the main characters, then maybe we changed to look a bit like them, too."

"So why didn't you change?" Rachel pointed out sullenly.

Kurt shrugged. "Bud always looked pretty gay."

The sad part was, he wasn't really joking.

They continued walking in silence. Kurt glanced up at the grey sky. It looked a lot less idyllic than it had on the TV screen, even if there wasn't a single cloud in sight. But then, when was it ever cloudy in Pleasantville?

"What now?" Rachel asked eventually.

"I guess we go to school," Kurt said. He frowned. "But I don't really know the way."

"Maybe he could help us?" Rachel questioned, pointing at a figure not too far away, walking in the same direction as them. He was wearing a letterman jacket, but he looked much shorter and smaller than any jock Kurt had ever known.

"Maybe." Even though he knew he was being ridiculous - there were no bullies in Pleasantville, after all - Kurt couldn't help but be immediately skeptical of anyone who looked like they might be popular. Especially if they were male.

Before he had time to think twice though, Rachel was off. Kurt sighed and ran after her. When they approached the guy in the letterman jacket, he turned around, revealing a very familiar face.

Underneath hideously gelled hair and weirdly triangular eyebrows rested a pair of twinkling eyes, as well as the most beautiful smile Kurt had ever seen. He remembered this character well - Blaine Anderson, the best friend of Bud Parker as well as Mary Sue's main love interest throughout the series. Kurt had always had a bit of a crush on the guy. While Bud was awkward and more than a little bit dorky, Blaine always had a sort of effortless charm and sincerity to him. He was the kind of guy that made all the girls in the audience swoon.

"Hiya, Bud," Blaine said cheerfully. He turned to Rachel and offered her a bashful, "Mary Sue."

Kurt sighed. And of course he was Rachel's. Or Mary Sue's. Whatever. It was just what he needed - watching Rachel snatch up another guy he liked, even if it was just a fictional character.

"Hello Blaine," Kurt replied wearily.

"Hello Blaine," Rachel echoed, smiling in a really intense way Kurt hadn't seen since before she and Finn started dating the first time around.

Kurt grinned, hoping his expression wasn't nearly as pained as it felt. "We were just on our way to school. Want to join us?"

"Gee, I'd love to," Blaine said, looking weirdly exited at the prospect. "That is, if you don't mind."

Rachel's smile widened. "We don't mind at all! Do we, Bud?"

"Not at all," Kurt repeated through clenched teeth.

Suddenly playing along didn't seem like such a good idea.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** Updating now because I'll be out of town for the rest of the weekend. Don't get too used to it, kids, it'll probably be a week until I post the next chapter.

There are a couple of lines here taken directly from the movie, but no more than two or three. The rest is my own writing.

* * *

**Chapter 3**

School, as it turned out, was just around the corner. Of course it was. Kurt got the feeling that if he were to walk from one end of Pleasantville to the next, it wouldn't take more than ten minutes.

They got inside the school and Blaine turned to Rachel, dreamy smile well in place. "I guess I'll see you in second period, Mary Sue."

Rachel blinked. "Second period?"

"Well, shucks," Blaine said. "I can't very well go to home ec with you. Besides, I have gym class with Bud."

_Shucks?_ Kurt mouthed incredulously.

"Right." Rachel nodded, again looking lost and confused. Kurt couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for her - it had been a while since he'd last watched _Pleasantville_ but at least he knew how things worked around here. Rachel didn't even know where the home ec classroom was.

But right at that moment, three squealing girls came running up to Rachel. They stilled when they spotted the boys, and one of them bit her lower lip coyly when she met eyes with Kurt.

"Gym class," Kurt blurted. "We should go."

Blaine gave him a concerned look but bid the girls goodbye and followed him in the direction of the gym. Behind him, Kurt could hear the girls starting to interrogate Rachel. He couldn't feel too guilty, he decided. At least she had company.

* * *

The locker room was nothing like the ones at McKinley. For one, it was impeccably clean and smelled of soap instead of sweaty jock-straps. And then there were the other boys - they happily greeted Kurt when they saw him and seemed to have no qualms about changing clothes in front of him.

But then, no one here knew he was gay. They probably didn't even know homosexuality _existed_.

All the same, Kurt kept his head ducked while he changed. He wouldn't be able to keep up the facade any longer anyway. As soon as he got out on the field and everyone saw what a lousy athlete he was, the game would be up.

"Are you all right, Bud?"

"I'm fine," Kurt said to his shoelaces, not daring to look up into Blaine's concerned eyes. That concern wasn't even for him, it was for Bud.

"That's good." Blaine sounded so earnest it hurt. Like he didn't know what he would do if something happened to his best friend.

His best friend Bud. Not Kurt.

The other boys began to trickle out. Kurt risked a glance up, just in time to get an eye-full of Blaine's retreating backside. And those shorts did _not _leave much to the imagination.

Kurt cursed under his breath and walked out a bit stiffly, hoping that no one would notice. As soon as he was out on the court, The Coach threw him a basketball which he caught with surprising grace.

Right. Time to face the music.

He turned to the nearest hoop and threw, not really aiming. The ball went smoothly through and bounced back right into Kurt's arms.

What.

He tried again, with one arm. Same results. Closed eyes. Same result.

"I think we're just about ready for the big game," Blaine said happily, dribbling his ball as he approached Kurt. "What do you think?"

Kurt dribbled his own ball, then threw it carelessly in the direction of the open exit. It bounced much too high, hit the wall above the doors and went flying through the hoop in front of Kurt, then returned to him again like a loyal dog.

"I think this is getting ridiculous," he muttered.

"Huh?" Blaine looked confused for a couple of moments but shrugged it off. "Uh, anyway, I wanted to talk to you, Bud. About Mary Sue."

Kurt wanted to roll his eyes but plastered on a fake smile. "Yes?"

"Well, what if I was to go up to her... that is, if I wanted to, say, ask her-"

"You want to ask Rachel out on a date?" Kurt interrupted before he stop himself. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Ask Mary Sue out, I mean."

"Oh." Blaine smiled. "Yes."

Kurt crossed his arms. Neither he nor Rachel had managed to blow their covers so far (and really, judging by his previous display with the basketball it kind of seemed impossible) so why not follow the program for now?

Even if it _did _break his heart a little bit to send another boy he liked (however fictional that boy might be) into the arms of Rachel Berry.

"I think she would like that," he replied honestly.

In return, he got another dazzling smile.

* * *

The bell rang and the boys all headed back to the locker room. It took a few moments for Kurt to figure that something was off.

None of them were showering.

His first reaction was _gross_. Then he realized that he himself hadn't broken into sweat once during class. For all he knew, people in Pleasantville just didn't sweat.

_That is... unbelievably creepy._

* * *

"This place is so creepy."

Kurt looked down at his right arm, which Rachel now clung to.

"You're not leaving me alone here again," she hissed.

"What happened?"

"This isn't Pleasantville, this is Stepford," Rachel exclaimed. "Everyone here acts brainwashed! And I went to the girls' bathroom and there wasn't a single toilet. The stalls were all empty."

"No one here sweats," Kurt replied morosely.

Rachel's grip on his arm tightened. "We need to get out of here. I don't want to be replaced by a robot."

"We're not in Stepford, Rachel. No one's getting replaced by a robot." Kurt grimaced. "And we can't get home yet. We lost the remote, remember?"

"What are we supposed to do then?"

Kurt freed himself from Rachel's vice-like grip. "We're going to lay low. Keep playing along until we figure something out."

Rachel looked unconvinced.

"There's a date in it for you," Kurt reluctantly added. "Blaine's going to ask you out, he just told me."

"Well," Rachel said and Kurt could tell she was trying hard not to appear too excited. "I suppose laying low for a day or two won't hurt."

"That's the spirit," Kurt deadpanned

He looked down the hallway where Blaine stood, wringing his hands nervously. When he saw Kurt, he gave a happy little wave. Unfortunately, Rachel spotted him as well.

"Wish me luck," she said and skipped over to Blaine, who looked, if anything, even more nervous.

Because Kurt was a good person, he didn't say _hope you fall flat on your face_. But he didn't wish her luck either.

* * *

School ended after second period and no one seemed to find this odd in the slightest. The perks of being stuck in a television show, Kurt mused. As he walked out of the main entrance, he could see Rachel being dragged off by the three squealing girls who had ambushed her before.

"Bud, wait up!"

Blaine came running, grinning from ear to ear. "I did it, I asked her out."

"Congratulations," Kurt said with all the sincerity he could muster. Which, even in the face of Blaine's infectious exhiliration, wasn't much. "Where are you taking her?"

"Mr. Johnson's Soda Shop," Blaine replied, sounding surprised that Kurt even had to ask. His expression became unsure. "Is that not a good idea?"

"Oh, no, it's a great idea," Kurt was quick to reassure him. "If you think it's a good idea, then it is."

Somehow, this only made Blaine look even more uncertain. "Well, I suppose I do... I haven't really given it much thought. It's just the way things go, right?"

"The way things go?" Kurt repeated.

Now Blaine looked straight-up uncomfortable. "Oh, you know. You meet a pretty girl and you ask her to go with you to Mr. Johnson's Soda Shop. It's only right to go on a couple of dates before going steady." He smiled nervously. "I won't be taking her up to Lover's Lane right away or anything, you don't have to worry about that."

Kurt smiled back. "I'm not worried." _At least not for Rachel_. "I know you'll treat her right."

Blaine stopped walking and Kurt realized that they'd reached his house while talking.

"Gosh, you have no idea how glad I am to hear that," Blaine said, his smile growing more genuine. "Your opinion means a lot to me, Bud. You're my best friend."

Their eyes met and Kurt's breath caught in his throat.

"Yes, well," he stuttered, still not breaking eye contact. "I meant every word."

Blaine's eyes danced with mirth and Kurt suddenly wondered whether this was what the moment before a kiss - a real kiss - felt like, but then Blaine laughed and ducked his head.

"Seeya tomorrow, Bud."

Kurt opened his mouth, then closed it again. "Later, Blaine," he finally managed.

He stood by the fence for a few moments more, trying to process what had just happened.

"Bud, honey, is that you?" Betty stood in the doorway, dusting her hands delicately on her apron. "Won't you come in? Your afternoon snack is getting cold."

Kurt groaned but marched obediently to the house. After whatever afternoon snack Betty had prepared (probably another ten people feast), he was finding that remote. Neither his stomach nor his heart could take much more of this.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** Did I say a week? Because I clearly meant two days. I don't even know how I'm doing this, but I've been writing a new chapter every two days. I'm pretty sure I've written more in the past three weeks than I have all year. Feels good! And you know what else feels good? Reviews! Follows! Favorites! Hits! So thanks to all y'all reading this story, even the lurkers. You guys are awesome.

I occasionally worry that this story will be incomprehensible for those who haven't seen the movie. So, y'know, feel free to complain if that is the case.

* * *

**Chapter 4**

That evening found Kurt and Rachel in Mary Sue's bedroom. Rachel had insisted that Kurt help her dress for her date and Kurt, still a little woozy from the afternoon feast he had been forced to consume (yes, _forced_. No one may have held a gun to his head, but Betty's expectant smile was just as effective as any weapon), had agreed.

Then Rachel had opened the closet and it became painfully clear that Kurt's help was not needed. Because there was nothing there but woolen sweaters and poodle skirts.

"I can work with this," Rachel assured herself, looking a little distressed as she picked up two pads that were clearly meant to go under her sweater.

Kurt lied down on the bed, groaning at his poor, stuffed stomach. "Of course you can. This is only a step away from your usual wardrobe."

"Like Bud's wardrobe's gonna look any better," Rachel shot back.

"I already looked," Kurt said mournfully. "It's horrid. It's all polyester shirts, sweater vests and pants that go up to your waist. We need to get out of here."

Rachel hummed in agreement, busy stuffing the pads down her shirt. "While I'm on the date, keeping our cover, you can look for the remote."

"Wonderful."

Kurt complained but, really, he had no one to blame but himself. He could have told Blaine not to ask Rachel out, since it was pretty clear that the boy wouldn't dream of doing so without his best pal's permission. He could have just dragged Rachel home without telling her about Blaine's intentions, though that seemed a bit cruel. Or he could have asked Blaine what the hell was up with the seven second eye contact (not that he had counted) in front of the Parker house.

But all of those options meant rocking the boat and for now the act was all they had.

"How do I look?"

Kurt raised his head. Rachel had changed into a slightly thinner sweater and a shorter skirt (though it still reached mid-calf). The pads made her breasts look twice as big and a bit conical. Along with the blonde hair and smaller nose, the overall effect was unnervingly familiar.

"Like a Barbie doll."

Rachel frowned and turned to look at herself in the mirror. "But it's okay, right? Blaine's going to like it?"

"Blaine's not going to care," Kurt told her bluntly. "He's not a real person, he's a two-dimensional character from a two-dimensional show. He's your designated love interest so that means that he'll like you no matter what you look like."

Even as he was saying it, Kurt found that he didn't quite believe his own words. Sure enough, Blaine acted exactly like an extra on a not too well-written TV show but there was something in his mannerism that spoke of more.

But Kurt wasn't going to try and decipher what it might mean. The lines between fantasy and reality were already blurring and if they wanted to make it back home safe and sane, they needed to keep the two separated.

That was, if this wasn't all a dream. Kurt hadn't totally ruled out that possibility yet.

"You're right," Rachel sighed. She tugged at her sweater and smiled. "But it's okay. I'll just use this opportunity as practice for when I'm a well known Broadway actress. It's important to be able to immerse yourself in a role."

"Just don't immerse yourself too deep," Kurt warned her.

There was a light knock on the door and Betty entered, smiling proudly when he saw Rachel.

"Oh, Mary Sue, don't you look lovely," she gushed. "But Bud, sweetie, I thought you were working at the Soda Shop tonight."

"Shit," Kurt exclaimed, jumping off the bed. At Betty's shocked expression, he corrected himself: "Eh, shoot, I'd almost forgotten."

Betty laughed. "Well, hurry along, then."

With one last warning look at Rachel, Kurt ran up to Bud's room, where his work uniform was. He changed clothes in a hurry, not allowing himself to think what cheap fabrics were touching his skin. He'd probably get a rash.

* * *

This whole ordeal had been a complete nightmare. She'd gotten an unwanted nose and dye job, been forced to spend an hour locked in a room with twenty Stepford smilers, found out that she could no longer sweat or... excrete waste... and to top it all off, she was still in black and white.

But right now, none of that mattered. None of that could matter, because Rachel Berry had a job to do.

It just so happened that this job involved going on a date with the cutest, most dapper boy she had ever met.

Blaine picked her up at six on the dot. He charmed the pants off George and Betty and then escorted Rachel to his car. They drove to Mr. Johnson's Soda Shop, which took less than a minute, and Rachel considered lecturing him on his carbon footprint but thought better of it. If this really was just a television show like Kurt had said, then it didn't matter.

They got inside and Kurt greeted them, wearing an apron and a little paper hat. Rachel thought he looked kind of adorable but Kurt clearly didn't agree, judging by his twitching left eye as he struggled to keep smiling. He showed them to the only available booth.

Rachel sat and had a look around. The place was absolutely packed but somehow the commotion didn't quite seem to reach their booth. "This is lovely. Did you order a reservation?"

It was meant as meaningless small talk but Blaine just stared at her in incomprehension. "What?"

"Nothing," Rachel muttered.

They fell silent for a moment. Thankfully, Kurt interrupted before things could get awkward.

"What can I get you?" he droned.

"Hey Bud," Blaine greeted brightly. "I guess I'll have a cheeseburger and a coke."

Rachel fidgeted. "Don't we get menus?"

"There are no menus, Mary Sue," Kurt replied, sounding slightly manic. "Everyone always orders the same thing."

"Um..." While Rachel was willing to do many things while committing to a role, eating meat or dairy was not one of them. Nudity was another, but she doubted it would come to that.

Kurt's eyes softened. "I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you," Rachel whispered.

Kurt left and the silence settled in again.

"I don't know if I've ever told you this," Blaine started, glancing coyly between Rachel and the table, "but I think you're just about the keenest girl in the whole school."

"The keenest?" Rachel laughed, then scolded herself. She had to maintain face. "Well, I think you're pretty... keen, yourself."

Blaine looked happy at that. He stared at her expectantly, as if waiting for her to continue the conversation. That much, Rachel could do.

* * *

Working at Mr. Johnson's was fairly easy. It was menial work, preparing burgers and taking orders, but it was simple and, this being Pleasantville, everything ran smoothly.

The only problem was Mr. Johnson. When Kurt showed up, twenty minutes late for his shift, Mr. Johnson just stood there by the counter, wiping the same spot over and over. Apparently he was unable to go any further without Kurt or, well, Bud, to do his part of the work.

It was unsettling, this feeling that all of Pleasantville pretty much revolved around two people who right now had no idea what they were doing.

After Kurt had assured Mr. Johnson that he could do Kurt's share of the work if Kurt wasn't there to do it (a concept that both excited and frightened Mr. Johnson), the evening went well.

Or so Kurt thought, until he brought Rachel and Blaine their food (cheeseburgers for both, minus the cheese and the burger for Rachel).

"-of course no one could replace Idina Menzel but I'm confident that in a few years-"

"Your order," Kurt hissed, cutting Rachel off mid-monologue. She smiled sweetly at him, as if she hadn't been doing anything terribly wrong.

He put the burgers down but Blaine didn't even notice, he was too busy staring starry-eyed at Rachel.

"Would you excuse us for a moment?" Kurt said, finally catching Blaine's attention.

Blaine nodded, still looking out of sorts.

He grabbed Rachel's hand and pulled her behind the counter.

"There's no meat in my burger, is there?" she asked.

Kurt breathed deeply, trying to regain his composure. "What on earth were you doing?"

"Talking?" Rachel answered uncertainly. "He wasn't saying anything, so I had to get the conversation going."

"You can't tell him about Broadway, Rachel!"

Rachel looked guilty at that. "I started talking about some classic movie musicals and he wanted to know more. He was so curious and you know that Finn's never shown even the slightest interest-"

"He would have been curious no matter what you talked about," Kurt argued. "Designated love interest, remember?"

"Well, I think you're wrong," Rachel insisted. "There's more to him than that. And to all of these people." There was an intense gleam in her eye. "I think we were sent here for a purpose."

Kurt raised an eyebrow. "What? To teach the people of Pleasantville the wonders of Broadway?"

Rachel shook her head. "Not just Broadway. Think about it, Kurt. Do you think it's a coincidence that the two of us ended up here?"

"Yes."

"You're gay," she pointed at his chest, "I'm Jewish and a strong, independent woman." At Kurt's disbelieving snort, she glared. "I am. You heard me sing 'Firework' this week in Glee. My point is, we can teach these people so much about different lifestyles. If only Mercedes had been with us, it would have been perfect."

"Oh, yes, the token minority trifecta would have been complete," Kurt said flatly. "Are you even listening to yourself talk?"

Rachel huffed. "I'm going back to the bathroom and then I'm going to continue my date with Blaine. Just give it some thought, Kurt. We could do so much good here if we stopped playing along and started actually doing something. These people's lives are stagnant and they deserve better."

She stormed off.

"_These people_ aren't real," Kurt countered, even though Rachel was out of earshot. His hands itched to grab the stupid paper hat off his head and throw it at Rachel but he somehow managed to resist the urge.

He'd deal with her delusions later. Right now he had work to do.

* * *

Kurt's stubborn reluctance to go along with her amazing plan left Rachel in a bit of a slump for the rest of the evening. Blaine was charming as ever, though, and by the end of the date, she had perked up considerably.

"I had a great time tonight," she told Blaine as he dropped her off at her doorstep.

"Oh, me too," he agreed breathlessly. "How do you know so much?"

Rachel bit her lip and decided to stay vague, for now at least. "I've been places."

"Like New York?"

"No," Rachel admitted, a bit disheartened. "But I'll be going there soon. Assuming we win Regionals, that is. But if I'm going to be the featured soloist, and this time I will be, then there's no way we're going to lose."

Blaine grinned goofily. "I don't know what you're talking about but I'm sure it's wonderful."

Rachel giggled and put her hand on his shoulder. "You're sweet, Blaine Anderson."

She kissed him goodnight and went inside without thinking anything of it. Blaine, however, stood on the patio for some time, trying to regain his senses.

"Wow," he whispered at last.

He walked to his car in a daze and by pure coincidence happened to glance at the rose bush on the Parkers' front lawn.

Sitting there inconspicuously in a sea of grey was a single pink rose.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** I'm so happy with all you guys' responses to this story! Seriously warms my icy little heart. In return, you guys get more K/B UST this chapter ;) I'm having entirely too much fun with them. I don't know if there are any Trekkies amongst my readers (well, no, I know of at least one. Hi Doni!) but the interaction between Kurt and Blaine is in part based on the interaction between Kirk and Spock in TOS. The kind of interaction that was so blatantly flirty, it made even people in the 60s sit up and say "this is kind of gay".

* * *

**Chapter 5**

* * *

"I do hope that you're ready to apologize."

Kurt glared at his friend. "Rachel, I am not in the mood for this. I spent half the night searching for the remote - our ticket home, in case you forgot - and for the second morning in a row, I had to eat my body weight in pancakes and bacon. I'd like it if we could just _not talk_ until we get to school."

"There's no need to be hostile," Rachel sniffed. "I had to eat my share of that breakfast, too."

"_After_ asking Betty about the contents of every single item," Kurt reminded her. "You're going to give us away. But then that's exactly what you want, isn't it?"

Rachel squared her shoulders defiantly. "Yes, it is."

"I'm still not entirely sure you didn't hit your head or something. How could you change your mind so drastically after a twenty minute date?"

"You weren't there," Rachel said insistently. "You didn't see what happened when I started talking. It was like -" she paused, struggling for words, "it was like we went off script. Like we stopped playing characters and started just being... us."

She had stopped walking, without seemingly realizing it, so focused on what she was saying. Kurt turned to face her, his stomach clenching with worry.

"You didn't see how he changed when I told him about New York," she continued. She stared up at Kurt, imploring him. "He was coming to life in front of me, Kurt. I know that feeling, suddenly discovering a part of yourself you didn't even know was missing. That's how I felt when I became friends with you, and everyone in Glee. It's not until afterwards that you realize how dull your life was before. How... colorless."

This was what Kurt loved about Rachel Berry. Right when she was at her most obnoxious, she'd turn around and say something like this. He almost felt bad about having to burst her bubble. "You're talking about real life. This isn't it."

"But what if it is?" Rachel asked, then hastily added, "Or it isn't, but it's supposed to be? I think that's why you can't find the remote. Because we were sent here for a purpose and we can't go back until it's completed."

"I'm sure that appeals to you," Kurt snarked. "Rachel Berry, savior of Pleasantville. Or maybe the reason I can't find the remote is because you keep messing things around. Maybe we can't go home until everything is back to the way it was."

It was obvious that his words affected her but to her credit, Rachel shook them off rather quickly. "Then why couldn't we go back the minute we came?"

Kurt had no answer to that.

They stayed silent for the rest of their walk and separated the minute they reached the school, even though Kurt was pretty sure neither of them knew where they were supposed to be going.

"Bud!"

Kurt turned to see Blaine Anderson come jogging down the hallway, as if he had somehow sensed Kurt's distress.

"I was hoping to catch you before gym," he said when he reached Kurt. So they had gym first thing in the morning, again. Lovely. "I have something to show you."

"Oh?"

Blaine glanced around the hallway. "Could it be in private?"

Kurt frowned. "Sure."

He followed Blaine to the locker room, which was empty at the moment and, for some inexplicable reason, smelling of newly baked cookies.

Blaine closed the door behind them and smiled at Kurt. "I saw it last night and I just had to show someone." He looked a bit guilty for a moment. "I picked it out of your garden. I sure hope Mrs. Parker doesn't mind."

"I'm sure she won't," Kurt said dismissively, now growing curious. "What is it?"

Blaine dug into his bag and pulled out a rose.

A _pink_ rose.

"Have you ever seen anything like it?" Blaine asked in hushed reverence. "I mean, I've seen dozens of pink roses but this is the first one," he laughed nervously, "I mean, the first that's a _real_ pink."

He continued talking but Kurt could barely hear him. This was bad. This was so, so bad.

"Stay here," he instructed, cutting Blaine off probably mid-word. "I need to find Rachel."

He stumbled out of the room, vaguely hearing Blaine call after him: "Who's Rachel?"

On his way out, he bumped into the other boys from his class. "Where are you going, Bud?" asked one of them but Kurt just shook his head and kept going.

He needed to find Rachel. She was responsible for this, he just knew it. And if she'd done it, she could undo it.

He hoped.

* * *

Rachel was beginning to be able to tell Mary Sue's friends apart. The one to her left, who squealed the loudest, was Lisa Anne. Next to her was Betty Jean, the only one with dark hair, and then Peggy Jane, the tall one.

Or maybe that was Betty Jean?

"-can't believe you were on a date with _Blaine Anderson_," Lisa Anne gushed for the third time.

"What was he like?" giggled Peggy Jane. "Was he dreamy? I bet he was dreamy."

"He was perfect," Rachel told them, relishing in the fact that she finally had girlfriends to talk about her date with. Somehow, she'd never managed to both have a boyfriend and friends at the same time. "We had a lovely time at the Soda Shop and he drove me home afterwards."

"Did he hold your hand?" Betty Jean wanted to know.

"Did he take you to Lover's Lane?" Lisa Anne tittered.

"Did he pin you?" they chorused.

Rachel gaped at them. This was the last question she would expect to hear in a place like this. It seemed even Pleasantville wasn't devoid of teenage debauchery. "No, of course not! I mean, we kissed but we certainly didn't do anything close to _that_. I would _never_ have sex on the first date."

The tree girls stilled.

"You kissed?" Peggy Jane repeated in a small voice, looking both shocked and a little bit curious. "But you two aren't married or anything."

Lisa Anne nodded. "Gosh, I've never even _seen_ my parents kiss and they've been married for years."

They shared glances.

"W-what's sex?" Betty Jean asked.

Rachel's jaw dropped. She stared at them and they stared back, all questions and wide, innocent eyes. "I thought you knew," she said lamely. "What did you mean when you asked if he'd pinned me?"

The girls laughed shakily.

"We were asking if he'd given you his pin," Lisa Anne said. "Gee whizz, Mary Sue, you know that."

"Right," Rachel muttered. "Of course I do."

Peggy Jane smiled, looking relieved. "So is 'sex' something like pinning?"

Rachel bit her lip. She wanted to lie but then, that wasn't why she came here, was it? She came here to educate the people of Pleasantville. So what if it was a slightly bigger task than she'd previously realized? She was still up to it.

"Not exactly," she finally said. She was saved from continuing when she saw Kurt step out into the hallway, gesturing for her to come over. "I'll explain it later, I have to go talk to my brother."

She ran over to Kurt, her heart beating wildly with relief. She knew that this was a conversation she would need to have sooner or later but she'd rather not have to go into it unprepared

Kurt grabbed her arm and dragged her into an empty corner. "What did you do?" he hissed, short-circuiting her relief. Had he heard her talk with the girls? "Blaine just showed me a rose he found. A _pink rose_."

"So?" At Kurt's raised eyebrow, it hit her. "Wait, pink? _Pink _pink?"

Kurt huffed. "Yes, _pink_ pink."

"This is wonderful," Rachel exclaimed giddily, bouncing on her feet with sudden excitement.

"It's terrible," Kurt protested. "You need to fix this."

"I hadn't realized how much we could change," Rachel laughed, ignoring him. "That we could literally bring color to Pleasantville."

The bell rang.

"Rachel," Kurt pleaded, "this has to stop."

Rachel smiled, a new-found rush of energy flowing through her. This was just the encouragement she needed. "Oh, it's only beginning. If you'll excuse me, I have a class to go to."

Not even Kurt's nay-saying could bring her down now. There was an entire town out there, waiting for someone to bring them to life and Rachel Berry was going to be that someone.

* * *

Kurt returned to the locker room, something close to panic gripping at his heart. He breathed heavily, trying to calm himself. He hadn't panicked when Karofsky kissed him and he certainly wasn't going to panic now.

He changed clothes in a hurry, hoping against hope that no one had noticed how late he was. When he got out on the field, however, he saw all the boys huddled together, talking intently. So intently, that they completely ignored The Coach's whistle.

"What's the matter with you boys?" The Coach shouted. "The big game is in just a few days!"

Kurt ran up to the huddle and his worst fears were confirmed when he saw what had so deeply fascinated everyone: Blaine and that damn pink rose of his.

Behind him, he heard a gasp. The Coach had approached to see what the commotion was about as well.

"I'll be," he whispered in awe.

Kurt swallowed heavily. This was spinning out of control. "Don't we have a big game to prepare for?"

Everyone turned to him at the sound of his voice.

"I'm sorry," Blaine said sheepishly. "I'll go put it away."

As soon as the rose was gone from view, it was as if a spell were lifted. The huddle broke and the boys gathered around the hoops, throwing their basketballs in quick succession.

Every one of them missed.

* * *

Kurt didn't see Rachel again until school had ended. She was standing by the flag pole with a small crowd gathered around her.

"They're going to the Soda Shop," Blaine said in answer to Kurt's unasked question. "Peggy Jane and Lily Anne both told me. Mary Sue's going to answer some questions they have."

"Fantastic," Kurt grumbled.

Blaine glanced at him. "Do you want to go?"

"Not for all the tea in China," Kurt replied dryly.

Blaine laughed, stopping abruptly when he saw that Kurt was scowling. "Gee, I'm sorry Bud. I didn't mean to laugh at you. You and Mary Sue just talk about the funniest places." He laughed again. "China, New York... who ever heard such names?"

"Haven't you?"

Blaine shook his head. "I've heard of Main street," he said, "and Elm Street and Lover's Lane and other such places."

"Nothing outside of Pleasantville?" Kurt asked, immediately regretting it. He'd been lecturing Rachel all day and yet here he was, rocking the boat.

"Not until yesterday." Blaine looked so lost, almost frightened, but there was an unquestionable gleam in his eyes. "I want to learn more."

"Well," Kurt said, "you'll have to learn from someone else. I'm going home." When Blaine made to follow him, he held up his hand. "_Alone_."

He left, ignoring the wounded look on Blaine's face. It didn't mean anything. Blaine was a character, incapable of feeling anything other than what his script told him to.

The thought did little to cheer Kurt up.

* * *

Rachel was used to being on stage. She liked being the center of attention, all eyes on her, and she'd been doing it before she even learned to crawl.

But as she stood in Mr. Johnson's Soda Shop with less than twenty pairs of eyes on her, Rachel had to admit that she was feeling something of a stage fright. She had been so sure of herself just a couple of hours ago but in the intervening time, she'd realized that she had no idea of where to start in explaining sex or even how to do it properly.

"Um," she said. All at once, her audience leaned in closer. "Thank you all for coming. I thought I would just, er, open the floor for questions and- yes, Peggy Jane?"

Peggy lowered her arm, which she had raised to catch Rachel's attention. "You said that you were going to explain 'sex'."

She said the word in a tone of voice that suggested that she had no idea of its meaning, other than that it was slightly taboo.

"Well, uh, yes," Rachel stammered. "But I was thinking we could maybe save that for a later date. We could work our way up to it."

There was a wave of disappointed groans but Lisa Anne raised her arm, looking determined.

"Work our way up to it how?" she asked.

"Kissing," Rachel blurted out. "I could tell you about kissing and making out and such. Sex doesn't generally come until after all that."

She had their full attention again.

"How does it feel?"

"What's 'making out'?"

"Is it anything like holding hands?"

Rachel smiled nervously. "One at a time, please."

She could do this. She totally could.

* * *

"Bud, sweetie, Blaine is here to see you!"

Kurt almost banged his head against the living room table, where he had been looking for the remote. Again. He knew that it was probably hopeless by now, but maybe seventh time was the charm.

Blaine entered, his head slightly hung, scuffing his feet against the floor. "Hi, Bud."

"Hi," Kurt replied, getting up and dusting his pants. "What brings you back so soon? I thought you'd be at the Soda Shop."

Blaine shrugged. "Someone will tell me what happened. This is more important." He drew a deep breath. "I'm sorry."

"What for?"

"I don't know," Blaine admitted. "For making you mad."

Kurt's expression softened. "Oh Blaine, I'm not-"

"Wait," Blaine cut in, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the pink rose. "I was gonna give this to Mary Sue but now I want you to have it."

He handed the rose to Kurt, who could only stare at him speechless.

"I'm sorry," he repeated. "I won't do whatever I did to make you mad again. You're my best friend, Bud. I don't like it when you're angry with me."

"I was never angry with you," Kurt said, ignoring the fluttering in his chest, the voice that screamed _'it's a flower it's a flower from a boy'_ and the much more insideous one that whispered '_everytime he says "best friend" it sounds more like something else_'. He reached out his hand. "So I can't take the rose. You should give it to Mary Sue."

Blaine's lips quirked in a sweet, vulnurable smile. "No, you keep it. Even if I didn't do anything wrong, you were still mad. I want you to feel better."

"Oh." Kurt licked his lips, which had suddenly dried up. "Well. Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Betty poked her head around the corner. "Is Blaine staying for dinner?"

Kurt wanted to groan. This was the second time she had interrupted them in the middle of... whatever had been happening. He should probably be glad for it but he couldn't help but feel robbed.

"I'd love to Mrs. Parker," Blaine said earnestly, "but I promise my folks I'd be home soon. It's meatloaf night." He turned to Kurt. "I'll see you at school tomorrow, Bud."

"See you at school," Kurt echoed.

When Blaine had gone, Betty sighed. "He is such a sweet young man. Isn't Mary Sue lucky to have him?"

Kurt ducked his head, feeling a familiar jealousy coil in his belly. "Yeah. She is."


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** This chapter was a bit difficult to write. I rewrote the entire last three scenes twice before I was happy with them. Hopefully it doesn't show. More detailed author's note at the bottom. Oh, and I really recommend you guys listen to "Real Rain" from the Pleasantville Original Score when you get to the library scene. You can find it on youtube. I don't usually like Randy Newman, but it really is a beautiful piece.

Brownie points to anyone who can tell me what the library scene is an analogy for ;) (because I made it _so subtle_)

* * *

**Chapter 6**

A miserable week followed Rachel's little Q&A session at the Soda Shop. The hallways of Pleasantville High School were beginning to feel more are more like the ones at McKinley. Sure, there was no underlying threat of violence (_yet_) and people still treated Kurt like one of the popular kids but everywhere he looked, there were teens holding hands, flirting, even kissing in plain view. The air was so sexually charged, one could practically taste it.

_'Ew,' _Kurt thought and crinkled his nose. '_Bad analogy_.'

As if that weren't enough, color was starting to pop up all over the place. A girl passed him wearing a bright blue beret in her hair and a boy followed shortly after, the pin in his lapel turned red. Across the hall, a couple was locking lips, both of them blushing pink. It was all Rachel's fault.

Rachel, who was currently standing in the other end of the corridor, playing tonsil-hockey with Blaine.

Okay, that was maybe putting it a bit harshly but the fact still stood that they were one of the more demonstrative couples at school. If Kurt didn't know better, he'd say that Rachel was rubbing his face in it but then she probably wasn't even aware of how it might be affecting him.

It would certainly be hard for her to tell, seeing as how Kurt had been avoiding both her and Blaine for the past week. Blaine, because the whole business with the rose confused Kurt a lot more than he'd let on at first. Rachel, because he was pissed at her for turning everything upside down but mostly because, loathe as he was to admit it, he was beginning to think she was right in doing so.

It all came back to the rose. The Blaine that had talked to him that day was not the same one Kurt had ever seen on his television screen. There had been a vulnerability to him that seemed entirely too real. Not to mention the tension between them that he was pretty sure had never existed between Bud Parker and his best pal.

Still, Kurt had never liked admitting he was wrong and he wasn't even entirely sure yet that he had been. Until then, he was avoiding Rachel unless she came and apologized to him.

So what if that left him lonely and miserable? He was used to it by now.

* * *

It had been a fantastic week. After her first, admittedly chaste and incomplete, foray into teaching sexual education, Rachel found she had a kind of influence over her peers she could only have dreamed of back home. They came to her if they had questions and emulated her. It was an enormous power to hold but one Rachel was fully confident she could handle.

The universe had even rewarded her for her good deeds with a charming and handsome boyfriend, one who listened intently to everything she had to say.

They stood in the hallway, exchanging their usual morning greeting when Blaine pulled away. Rachel held back a sigh of frustration. He_ always_ pulled away first. How often did she need to tell him that he didn't have to stop on her account?

"Have you talked to Bud?"

Also a part of their usual morning greeting, sadly.

"No, I haven't," she said. "I told you, I'm waiting for him to come talk to me. Bud needs to figure some things out but once he does and he comes to apologize, I will be waiting with arms wide open."

It was the same answer she had given him four times already and every time, he looked more and more unsure.

"I just want him to feel all right again," Blaine muttered.

Rachel bit her lip and even she had to admit she felt guilty when Blaine put on those puppy eyes. "How about I give him the rest of the school day and if he hasn't come talk to me by then, I'll go to him." She smiled. "We can go visit him at the Soda Shop and make a date out of it."

Blaine smiled back so radiantly, it put the sun to shame.

* * *

Getting a hold of Kurt proved surprisingly difficult. The Soda Shop was, if anything, even more packed than usual and Rachel and Blaine couldn't find a single empty booth, forcing them to share with Peggy Jane and her date. When Kurt came to take their orders, he barely spared them two glances and didn't even look up to meet Rachel's eyes.

"I'll be right back," Rachel whispered to Blaine. "Stay," she added when it looked like he might follow.

As she squeezed through the crowd, Rachel couldn't help but feel proud at what she saw. Mr. Johnson's Soda Shop was without question the most colorful place in town - the jukebox being the biggest item that was in complete technicolor. The music playing was also different than it had been a week ago. Instead of doo-wopping, mid-tempo ballads by artists Rachel had never heard of, there was Little Richard, Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly. It felt wonderful, seeing what the rest of Pleasantville had the potential to be.

Finally, she reached the counter. She frowned when she saw no one there.

At that moment, Kurt came swooping from the back and addressed the crowd en masse: "I'm sorry, there's some problems with the, uh, grill. Your orders will be a few minutes late."

When he saw Rachel standing there, he rolled his eyes but indicated for her to come behind the counter.

"What is it now?" he griped. "In case you hadn't noticed, I'm a bit busy at the moment."

Rachel frowned. "What happened? Where's Mr. Johnson?"

"He's in the back," Kurt nodded in the direction of the kitchen, "having some sort of mid-life crisis about not being able to paint when it isn't Christmas."

"What?"

"Exactly," Kurt exclaimed. "You know, this kind of stuff didn't happen before. Everyone in Pleasantville was happy with their jobs."

Rachel could feel her anger flaring up. She'd come here to tell Kurt that she was ready to accept his apology but if this was how he was gonna be, then _fine_. "So, what, you want to deny this man a regular creative outlet? He's a person, Kurt, not a hamburger making... machine." She clenched her jaw. "I thought giving you some space would make you see things my way but you're clearly beyond redemption."

"Rachel-"

Rachel held up her hand, determined to have the last word. "I thought you of all people would be on board with this. You should know well enough how painful it is when people tell you that you can't be yourself."

With that last triumphant remark, she swirled around and stormed off into the crowd, ignoring the guilt weighing at her heart.

Because Kurt, ice queen Kurt with his nerves of steel and impenetrable mask of indifference, had looked _hurt_.

* * *

He hadn't meant to snap at her, he really hadn't, but Rachel just made it so easy. Although maybe she hadn't been entirely to blame this time. Kurt had been feeling stressed and his fuse was already short, even before Mr. Johnson's sudden bout of ennui. Being at odds with Rachel felt a lot worse here than it might in the real world because here, she was all he had.

And wasn't that a depressing thought.

Kurt made the decision to close the shop early that night and Mr. Johnson was only too happy to go along with it. They could both use a bit of a break from flipping hamburgers.

On the short walk home, Kurt couldn't help but think back on Rachel's words.

He didn't like that she'd tried to use his own past issues against him (tried and succeeded, if he was being perfectly honest with himself) but she was still right. Mr. Johnson deserved better than to be pigeonholed by some teenager who had far too much influence on his life. They all did.

God, and Kurt might as well come out right now and admit that he had been wrong, but he was still hurting after his last argument with Rachel. There was also the fact that once he conceded that Rachel had been right, he would have to do something about it. He would have to teach the people of Pleasantville how to live properly and how could he do that if he himself had barely been surviving for the past few months?

It was almost a relief to enter the Parker house. Kurt planned on going right to bed and shutting off his brain for the night but before he could go upstairs, Betty came out into the hallway.

"Home so soon?"

"Why are you always here?" Kurt huffed in frustration.

Betty looked taken a back by the question. "Where else would I be, sweetheart?"

She said it quietly, almost sadly and Kurt could feel himself deflate instantly. "Nevermind," he mumbled.

Betty grabbed his shoulder and squeezed it softly, feeling his forehead with her other hand. "You're looking a little under the weather. Have you been eating properly?"

It was almost too much for Kurt to take, this motherly concern. She reminded him a bit of Carol but whereas she looked at Kurt and saw a stepson, Betty just saw him as her son.

To his horror, Kurt could feel himself tearing up and he quickly blinked. "I'm fine."

Betty looked him over for a moment. "If you're sure," she finally said.

She looked at a loss for what to do and that helped Kurt pull himself together for a moment. She saw him as her son, yes, but he wasn't. He was infinitely more complicated than her son and she was way out of her league in trying to understand him. Hell, Bud probably hadn't cried since he was a newborn. He'd never had reason to.

"I am," Kurt assured her. "I just need some sleep."

"Oh." Betty's lips twitched in an attempted smile. "Well, goodnight then, darling."

"Good night."

Kurt made it to the second floor before his eyes began to water again. He could hear George call down the hallway, "Goodnight, champ", but he didn't even attempt to answer.

He missed his dad. He missed his friends back at McKinley. Hell, he even missed the slushies. At least they were in color.

More than anything, though, he missed his mom. He closed his eyes and tried to remember how she smelled but all he could come up with was Betty's flowery perfume.

He needed to make up with Rachel, before he lost his mind. First thing tomorrow.

* * *

First thing tomorrow turned into after first period, which turned into after second period and then during lunch. But come lunch time, Kurt found himself wandering around the school library, idly reading the book spines and hoping that something would catch his interest. It seemed a lot safer than the alternative.

He turned a corner and almost jumped with fright when he saw Blaine standing there, leaning against the shelves.

"You scared me," Kurt said, hoping to come off as nonchalant.

Blaine opened his mouth as if to apologize, then closed it and visibly steeled himself. "You've been avoiding me."

"I've been avoiding Mary Sue," he argued. When Blaine continued to stare at him accusingly, he broke. "Maybe you too, a little bit."

"Why?" Blaine asked.

Kurt smiled self-depreciatingly. "I'm just being stupid. Mary Sue and I had an argument and I can't admit that she was right."

"And me?"

"It's just..." Kurt threw up his hands in defeat, "really confusing."

"I don't understand," Blaine mumbled.

Kurt winced. "Neither do I."

There was a short silence.

"But," Blaine hesitated, "can't we still be friends? I miss you."

So this was what running over a puppy felt like. "We never stopped being friends," Kurt assured him. "I'm sorry if I made you believe that."

A smile broke out on Blaine's face. "So you'll talk to me again?"

Kurt nodded, not trusting himself to speak.

"And Mary Sue, too?" Blaine pressed on.

"Later," Kurt said, well aware that with such a vague statement he could probably get away with avoiding Rachel for another week.

It seemed good enough for Blaine. "What were you doing in the library, anyway?"

Kurt sighed, thankful for the change in subject. "It's a comfort thing. When I'm upset, I like getting lost in a good book."

"I've never really read any books," Blaine admitted.

Kurt started. "What? Never?"

"I would like to," Blaine said, a little defensively. "It's just, I've never thought about it before. No one reads books when they could be hanging at the Soda Shop or preparing for the big game."

"Oh." Kurt was stumped. "Well, I could recommend you something?" He looked around the shelves and spotted a title he'd never expected to see. He pulled it out and handed it to Blaine. "Like this."

"_The Catcher in the Rye_," Blaine read out loud. He looked up at Kurt. "I've never heard of it."

"You liked talking to Mary Sue about New York, right?" Kurt had to bite back a laugh when Blaine nodded enthusiastically. "Most of this book takes place there."

Blaine opened it and frowned. "But... is it supposed to look like this?"

He showed it to Kurt. The pages were blank. He grabbed it and Blaine allowed him, looking disappointed. "No, definitely not."

"Well, you could tell me about it," Blaine suggested.

Kurt flipped through it, beginning to end and then back to the beginning. It was all empty. "I don't remember all of it," he began. "It's about this kid named Holden Caulfield who runs away from his dorm and goes to New York-"

He let out a small gasp. Blaine followed his gaze down to the book in his hands. Words had begun to appear on the pages. Kurt flipped ahead. Most of the pages were still empty.

"More," Blaine insisted, his voice throaty.

Kurt could feel his face heat up and he nodded.

* * *

"Wow."

Kurt closed the book and stared down at the now red cover. At some point during the reading, both he and Blaine had ended up sitting on the floor. "Yeah."

"I mean... wow."

Risking a glance up, Kurt could see Blaine running a hand through his hair, looking flustered and out of breath.

'_He looks like he just - no. Not going there.'_

"I - I need to go," Kurt said, slowly, talking more to himself than Blaine. "I need to go apologize to Mary Sue."

He made to stand up but was stopped by a hand on his knee. He stared wide-eyed at Blaine, who drew his hand back immediately. "I just wanted to thank you."

Kurt laughed nervously and handed him the book. "Hold on to this for me."

"I will," Blaine promised, accepting the book and cradling it to his chest as if it were the world's greatest treasure.

* * *

Kurt ran into Rachel right outside the school.

"You were right," he blurted out before she could do more than open her mouth. "You were right and even though you were kind of a bitch about it, I'm still sorry for being so stubborn."

Rachel blinked a couple of times. "Well," she said. "While I don't appreciate being called names, I do admit that some of my blows may have been below the belt." She looked slightly pained. "So I'm sorry, too. Just know that I did it because I really wanted you by my side."

"You did?" Kurt asked, kind of hating himself for how happy he sounded.

"I've been floundering," Rachel admitted, now looking more than slightly pained. "I told myself that I was doing fine but the truth is, I can't do this alone. And if I had to have any one person help me," she paused and focused her gaze on the ground, "well, I'm glad it's you."

Kurt felt his heart swell. He knew how much this meant, coming from Rachel Berry. "I'm going to hug you now," he told her teasingly.

Rachel laughed and hugged him back, as fiercely as her small frame allowed. "Friends?" she muttered into his ear.

"Friends."

* * *

**A/N:** Just wanted to explain my book choice. In the movie, they had Jennifer and David explaining the plot of _Huck Finn_, because a) it deals with race relations and b) it's one of the most widely banned books in the United States.

I went with _Catcher in the Rye_ (which got a minor mention in the movie) because it's also widely banned and because I thought it fit better with my added themes of homosexuality. There was actually another book that would have fit even better, _The Perks of Being a Wallflower,_ but that didn't come out until 1999 so it would have been _really _out of place. And it was heavily influenced by _Catcher_ anyway.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N:** I giggled like a maniac the whole time I was writing this chapter. I think that says more about my immaturity than the quality of the humor, though.

One thing I never noticed before I started writing this story is that not _once_ did anyone talk about protection of any kind in the movie. Hence this next scene, which I had to do some research for. Because I didn't know whether condoms in the modern sense were being sold in the US at the time Pleasantville takes place. Turns out that not only were they being sold, they were selling faster than ever. The more you know!

The Reproduction Song mentioned in this chapter is from Grease 2 and you can listen to it on youtube.

* * *

**Chapter 7**

"Why are we going to the pharmacy, again?"

"We are holding a seminar at the Soda Shop on sexual education," Rachel said, not slowing down her stride for a second, "and if we want to do it properly, we need something on hand for visual demonstration. We don't want to end up with a dozen Quinn Fabrays on our hands."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "They're not going to be selling protection, Rachel. If what you told me is true, then no one in Pleasantville has even heard of sex before."

"It's worth a try." Rachel stopped suddenly, making Kurt almost run into her. "We're going to do this right or we're not going to do this at all."

"Right," Kurt drawled.

He put on a snarky front but the truth was, he was absolutely terrified. He knew the basics of sex (hetero sex, anyway) but nowhere near enough to teach it. And to a room full of other teenagers, no less.

Rachel grabbed his sleeve and practically dragged him the rest of the way. The Pharmacist looked up and gave them a beaming smile when they entered.

"And what can I do to help you kids?" he asked kind-heartedly.

"You go," Rachel whispered to Kurt.

"No, what?" Kurt spluttered. "You go, this was your idea."

Rachel fixed him a pointed glare. "You're a guy, it should be much easier for you. Besides," she drew a deep breath, looking down on the floor, "I want the first time I buy condoms to be special."

With that, she gave Kurt a good, hard push toward the counter. He stumbled and quickly fixed a smile on his face when he saw the Pharmacist giving him a confused look.

"Good day," he said, aware that his voice had turned high and breathless like it always did when he was embarrassed. Or mortified beyond belief. "I- I wish to purchase some protection."

He could hear Rachel snort behind him and silently wished her a slow, painful death.

The Pharmacist looked at him blankly. "Protection?"

Seemed that Kurt would have to elaborate. "Er, you know-" He could say it. It was just one tiny little word.

One tiny little word laden with implications.

"Maybe you'd be better off looking at the hardware store?" the Pharmacist suggested.

Kurt let out a strangled, high-pitched noise and Rachel started giggling. "No, I'm pretty sure it should be available here."

"Well, then I need you to be more specific."

"Condoms," Kurt all but shouted. "I need to buy condoms."

Behind him, Rachel was clearly holding back laughter.

The Pharmacist looked contemplative. "I believe we just got a shipment of them." He bent under the counter. "Which is strange, because I don't recall ever ordering them. I don't even know what the little guys are meant for, really." He came back up, holding a small box. He smiled at Kurt. "Do let me know if you find out?"

Kurt nodded and slapped some money on the counter. It was probably too much but he had a feeling that if he didn't leave soon, he'd burst into flames. He grabbed the box and Rachel's hand, and fled out of the shop.

Once they were back on the street, Rachel burst out laughing unrestrained.

"Real funny," Kurt muttered darkly. "You know that you're going to be the one teaching them about sex, right?"

Rachel let out one last giggle, then sobered up. "I know. But I was hoping that I could, you know, teach them about regular sex and you could explain gay sex."

Kurt could actually feel his heart coming to halt. "First off, love the way you worded that." Rachel had the decency to look ashamed. "Also, no."

"That's not fair," Rachel huffed. "Putting it on my shoulders to teach _both_-"

"I meant," Kurt interrupted, "that we're not going to be talking about gay sex at all. It's too much."

Rachel frowned. "I don't see how."

"Have you seen a single same-sex couple in this place?" Kurt asked. "No. Because they don't know the concept even exists. They think gay means happy and queer means strange."

"But we're here to educate them, Kurt. To open their minds."

"One step at a time." Kurt looked down at his hands then immediately up again when he remembered what he was holding. "You know that me teaching them about gay sex might have them jump to conclusions?"

"They wouldn't be wrong," Rachel pointed out. She looked confused. "You've never had any problems with being out and proud."

"I never had a choice," Kurt corrected her. "And I got ostracized because of it. But here, for the first time in my life, I'm treated as one of the crowd. Can you blame me for wanting to hold onto that a little longer?"

Rachel looked at him, imploring. "You want to hide who you are?"

"Not hide." Kurt crossed his arms. "I just want to come out at my own speed, this time."

"I suppose I understand," Rachel said slowly, although it was clear from her expression that she didn't. "But I could always teach them."

"No!" Kurt pinched the bridge of his nose. He hadn't meant to say it so forcefully. "I mean, not yet. When I'm ready."

"Fine." Rachel looked troubled but she recovered quickly and grinned at him. "I won't out you for being gay and you won't out me for being Jewish." At Kurt's raised eyebrow, she stifled a giggle. "Oh, like being Jewish in this place is any better than being gay. You have noticed that we've been forced to go to church every Sunday, right?"

"And say grace before dinner," Kurt added. "I think being an atheist is worse, though."

Rachel, to his relief, did not look uncomfortable as she had the last time he brought up his lack of religion. "They'd probably spray us with holy water."

"Or drag us to the river and try to baptize us."

Rachel started laughing again and Kurt grinned. He liked being friends with her, he really did. If only it didn't make him feel so guilty about lying to her.

Because the truth was, while he didn't look forward to having to come out again, he had another reason for not wanting to talk about gay sex. Mostly, it was because he knew nothing about it. At all. Nor was he ready to learn about it.

Especially not from Rachel Berry.

* * *

They arrived at the Soda Shop early and Mr. Johnson came a couple of minutes later to let them in.

"Thank you so much for letting us do this here," Kurt told him.

Mr. Johnson shrugged in an 'aw, shucks' fashion. "Just glad to be of help." He turned to Rachel. "Did you want the paintings now, Mary Sue?"

"Yes, please," Rachel answered brightly. Mr. Johnson strode confidently into the kitchen

"Paintings?" Kurt asked.

Rachel's face flushed. "I asked Bill here to help us with the, uh, visual aid."

"Here you go," Mr. Johnson announced happily as he returned and handed Rachel a stack of canvases.

Kurt peered over her shoulder. "That's a penis."

"I am aware," Rachel shot back, sounding more shocked than annoyed. "I'll just put those aside for later."

"Does it look all right?" Mr. Johnson wanted to know.

Rachel hummed in agreement. "Very realistic."

"As if you'd know," Kurt muttered. He leaned closer to Rachel, "How did you get Mr. Johnson to agree to this?"

"He was more than willing," Rachel informed him. "I gave him a heavily illustrated book on sexual reproduction and a list of things I wanted him to paint. Not often that he gets requests like that."

That last statement was more than a little accusatory but Kurt brushed it right off. "If we have a book on sexual reproduction at our disposal, why do we even need to hold this seminar? Can't we just have everyone read it?"

"It wouldn't be as effective." Rachel wrung her hands nervously. "And I did promise that I would explain it."

That was apparently that, as Rachel pulled some notes out of her pocket and sat down to read them. Kurt wandered into the corner, where Rachel had put Mr. Johnson's paintings aside for later. He reached for them but before he could touch, the bell at the entrance rang as the first group of people entered.

Kurt spun around, his heart going a mile a minute. Peggy Jane, as well as her boyfriend Tommy and his friend Johnny, had entered. They stopped at the door when they saw Kurt and the four teenagers stared at each other, all looking like they'd been caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

"What are you standing there for?" Rachel asked, breaking the awkward silence. "Come in, there's no need to be shy."

Kurt smiled stiffly and went to sit at the counter, while the others gathered in one booth.

After that, people started arriving bit by bit in groups of three or more, except for Blaine who came by himself. He grinned when he saw Kurt and Kurt almost waved him over, until Rachel spotted him and went to kiss him hello.

Finally, at five o'clock, everyone had arrived. Rachel pulled Kurt to his feet to stand in the middle of the floor with her, while everyone sat around them.

"Welcome," Rachel greeted. She elbowed Kurt in the arm.

"Hi," he added.

When it was clear that no one was going to answer, Rachel cleared her throat. "We're going to start by asking a couple of questions, just so we're clear on where we stand. Bud?"

Kurt dutifully pulled out his own notes. They had discussed on their way to the Soda Shop that since he wasn't going to talk about gay sex as Rachel had intended, he could at least help her get started. "What is the difference between boys and girls?" he read out loud in a monotone voice.

"Girls wear skirts," Betty Jean answered, "and have long hair. Boys wear pants and have short hair."

Everyone around her nodded approvingly.

"Technically true," Rachel allowed. "Well, not always, but-" This time Kurt elbowed her and she grinned sheepishly. "I meant physical differences."

There was a round of confused looks.

"Girls smell better?" a boy Kurt didn't know the name of offered.

"Boys are stronger," the girl next to him added coyly.

"This is a lot harder than I'd anticipated," Rachel whispered so that only Kurt could hear.

He smirked. "You signed up for it."

Rachel huffed and put on her best show smile. "The answer I was looking for is: they have different genitalia." She nodded her head at Kurt, who went and fetched the first two of Mr. Johnson's paintings. "Bud, if you will."

Kurt held up the painting of the penis. Their audience drew a collective gasp. Kurt made the mistake of glancing in Blaine's direction. Blaine's eyes were glued to the painting, then they dropped lower. To Kurt's crotch. Kurt crossed his legs a bit and focused his eyes on the ceiling. This was going to be a long evening.

* * *

"-in conclusion, be safe, sane and consensual. Any questions?"

You could hear a pin drop. Slowly, one of the boys in the audience raised his arm.

Rachel smiled sweetly at him. "Yes?"

"Where," he blushed a very alarming shade of red, made all the more obvious by the rest of his face still being black and white," where do we get condoms?"

"They're available at the pharmacy."

As soon as she had finished answering, the room came to life. People were scrambling to get to the exit, only a few of them remembering to stop and thank Rachel for the lesson. Rachel honestly couldn't say she blamed them. She'd been feeling a little warm herself ever since she started talking about foreplay.

"You did a good job," Kurt said when the place had nearly emptied.

Rachel beamed at the compliment. "I couldn't have done it without you. Literally, The Reproduction Song would have been very difficult to sing by myself."

Kurt pulled a face. "Yeah, let's not mention that ever again."

"You two were great," Blaine praised, coming over. He wasn't looking at the both of them, though. He only had eyes for Kurt.

"Thank you," Kurt replied in that breathy voice Rachel knew all too well. She'd heard him use it around Finn a million times last year.

"Yes, thank you," Rachel echoed maybe a bit louder than she needed to but it drew the attention back to her. "Blaine, I was thinking that we could go to Lover's Lane?"

She batted her eyelashes at him in case what she was offering wasn't blatant enough.

"I, uh," Blaine stuttered. Rachel pouted at him for good measure and he caved. "Sure."

"Go out," she instructed, "I'll be out with you in a second."

She waited until the doors closed behind him and turned to Kurt. "Do you still have the condoms?"

"Rachel, you wouldn't," Kurt said disbelievingly.

No, she wouldn't. Rachel knew herself and she knew she wasn't ready. But something about the way Kurt and Blaine looked at each other made her irrationally jealous. She wanted to make Kurt jealous in return. "Maybe I would. It's better to have them, just in case."

Kurt looked like he wanted to protest but he didn't. He fished the box out of his pocket and handed it to Rachel with a bitter smile. "Just be careful."

Rachel swallowed, suddenly wanting to tell Kurt the truth. Instead she nodded and followed Blaine out into his car.

She climbed into her seat. "Shall we go?"

"I don't think I want to," Blaine confessed, turning to look at Rachel. "Have sex, I mean. Not yet."

Rachel felt a mingled sense of relief and dread. "Me neither. But we can still go to Lover's Lane and make out, right?"

Blaine agreed to that, banishing most of Rachel's dread. He didn't like Kurt, he liked her. He was her love interest, for God's sake, that meant he was practically created for her. Blaine was straight.

Going to Lover's Lane turned out to be a mistake. It was difficult focusing on making out with your boyfriend when the couple in the next car over was going at it like rabbits.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N:** This'll probably be the only chapter I post this week. I've been kind of caught up in school work and if this week's episode of Glee is even half as heartbreaking as it looks to be now, then I probably won't feel much like writing the next few days.

* * *

**Chapter 8**

After a rather grey evening at home in both the literal and figurative sense, coming to school the next morning was a shock on Kurt and Rachel's systems. It seemed that a third of the population at Pleasantville High School had become technicolored over night.

"Do you think it was the sex?" Kurt wondered. He didn't know whether or not he wanted it to be. On the one hand, that meant it would be a long while until he turned colors. On the other hand, it would be definite prove that Rachel and Blaine hadn't done it, seeing as how both of them were still in black and white as well.

Rachel shook her head. "I know for a fact that some of the people that have had sex are still grey." She didn't say how she knew this.

A fully colored Lisa Anne skipped by them and gave a happy little wave.

"What was it then?"

"I don't know," Rachel admitted. "Turning into a three dimensional character? But then, we'd both be in color."

"Are you sure you would be?" Kurt teased. Rachel grinned and shoved him lightly. "Maybe it's a love of life? Or overcoming some sort of obstacle or fear? Maybe all the people who turned colors having sex were really afraid to do it."

Rachel furrowed her brow. "That sounds horrible."

"Yeah," Kurt admitted, "it kind of does. Not what I meant, though."

"No, I got that." Rachel bit her lip. "What kind of obstacle do we need to overcome, then? What fears do we need to face?"

"I don't know about you, but I face my fears every morning just by putting on this outfit."

Rachel snorted. She looked up at him in thought. "I think you need to come out of the closet."

Kurt scoffed. "I already came out."

"You're being obtuse on purpose," Rachel said accusingly. "Maybe we both need to come out."

"Me as gay and you as Jewish?" Kurt guessed, echoing their earlier conversation. "I know we're okay with rocking the boat, but there's rocking the boat and there's turning it over on its head."

"You don't think people are ready to deal with it?"

"I know they're not."

As soon as he'd said it, Kurt knew it was a mistake. There was that light back in Rachel's eye, that signaled her incessant need to prove everyone around her wrong.

"I'll do it first," she offered. "I'll skip church next Sunday, citing religious reasons. Then, when civilization doesn't collapse, you can come out of the closet and finally teach our peers the wonders of gay sex!"

Kurt was silent for a long while. "I can't decide," he finally said, "whether this is standard Rachel Berry behavior or a horrible joke."

"You'll see," Rachel exclaimed. "I'll show you."

She swirled around to do her usual storming off, only to bump into the geometry teacher and send both of them flying. Kurt stood there for a moment, savoring it, then bent down and helped Mrs. Peters to her feet. Rachel shot him a deadly glare, got up by herself and finished storming off.

"Thank you, Bud," Mrs. Peters sighed. "I just don't understand the hurry with you children these days. It used to be that no one would run in the hallways."

"Mary Sue's a special case," Kurt assured her.

Mrs. Peters glanced at the clock on the wall. "Oh goodness, and I'm almost too late to the teachers' meeting."

Teachers' meeting? Kurt raised an eyebrow. He hadn't heard of the teachers holding morning meetings before. Maybe it was standard practice and he just hadn't noticed before, but there were alarms going off in his head. As soon as Mrs. Peters turned the corner, he followed her.

She skittered into the teachers' lounge, conveniently leaving the door open just a crack. Kurt pressed himself against the wall next to it, thankful for the fact that the lounge was in an almost vacant part of the school.

"-can't go on much longer," he heard one of the teachers saying. Kurt hadn't bothered to learn most of their names but it was definitely a woman.

"The children are reading," another person exclaimed. "They keep taking books out of the library. I checked the school rules to see if that was allowed and it is, but I just don't know."

"And the _colors_." This was definitely Coach and he didn't sound quite as amazed by it as he had last week by the pink rose. "Why, half the team is fully colored now and it's affecting their performance. At this rate, we're going to lose the big game. We _never_ lose the big game."

"A student just ran into me in the hallway," Mrs. Peters lamented. "It's becoming unsafe for us to walk around the school. That's not to mention all the questions." There was a murmur of agreements. "Last Wednesday, a girl asked me what was _outside of Pleasantville_. How am I supposed to answer that?"

Kurt pulled away, having heard enough. The teachers were displeased but ineffectual. Not one of them had what it took to discipline a classroom full of _real _teenagers.

But what if this was just the tip of the iceberg? He didn't know yet how the other adults in Pleasantville were reacting to all the recent changes. Could the others handle it if their parents turned against them? Or the police?

Hopefully it wouldn't come to that.

* * *

While the police didn't arrive to interrogate them that evening, Kurt found himself alone in the living room with George after dinner. Betty had called for Rachel to help her with the dishes, which in on itself wasn't so unusual but the nervous look on George's face certainly was.

George indicated for Kurt to sit opposite him. "We need to have a little chat, son."

Kurt sat down, feeling both curious and apprehensive. "Yeah?"

"Bud," George started, "perhaps you've been noticing certain changes around here."

"You mean people changing color," Kurt clarified.

George looked supremely uncomfortable. "Well, yes. I talked to Bob today," he smiled proudly, "the Mayor, that is, and we agreed that in times such as these, the most important thing is to keep up the family values and stay a strong and upstanding citizen. So I want you to know, and Mary Sue too, of course, that if you feel even the slightest tingle of a change, you can come right to me or your mother."

Kurt pressed his lips together. "So in other words, we should try our best to stay black and white."

George nodded, pleased to have gotten his message across clearly.

"What if we don't want to?" Kurt asked quietly.

George's face fell. "Don't want to?"

"Have you seen any of the colored people?" At George's hesitant nod, Kurt smiled. "Don't they look happier? More beautiful? They were pleasant before but now they're something else."

"Son," George pleaded, "you and Mary Sue, you're such goshdarn wonderful people. Why would you want to change that?"

"Because we could be more."

Kurt stood up and George followed his movements with those big, lost eyes of his far too young for the rest of his face.

"I'm glad we had this talk," Kurt said. He patted George's shoulder and went up to his room.

* * *

"Hand me the rest of the plates, would you dear?"

Rachel obeyed, sighing at the unfairness of it all. Here she was, stuck in the kitchen, while Kurt got to walk away scott-free just because he was a boy.

"Mary Sue?"

"What?" Rachel snapped.

Betty's eyes, which had been focused on Rachel, darted quickly down to the dishes again. "I suppose you've noticed what's been going on lately."

"The colors?" Rachel guessed.

"Yes," Betty said quietly. She handed Rachel one more dish and pulled her hands out of the sink. "Do you know why it's been happening?"

Rachel had been half-expecting an interrogation but Betty sounded so genuinely curious. "I'm not quite sure what causes people to change. I think it's because they're discovering who they are, and each other. Through sex, mostly, but other things too."

"Oh."

'_Three, two, one...'_

"What's sex?"

Rachel clenched the washcloth in her hand. This had to be easier the second time around. At least without Kurt, she had to seriously cut down on the musical numbers. "Well, mom. Do you know the difference between a man and a woman?"

* * *

A while after Rachel's explanation, Betty stood by the kitchen counter, staring sadly into nothing. Rachel took the opportunity to put the rest of the dishes away.

"Are you okay?" she finally asked.

"I am," Betty said in a voice that showed she was anything but. "It's just... your father would never do something like that."

Rachel sat down by the dinner table. She'd already explained sex to her supposed mother. What was one more mortifying speech, really? "You could always do it by yourself."

Betty looked up at Rachel, her eyes watery but full of hope.

* * *

"You taught our mother how to masturbate?"

Rachel flinched, looking around to see if anyone else in the hallway had heard. "She's not actually our mother, you know. And besides, all I did was teach her how to love herself."

"This is beyond weird," Kurt whimpered. "I'm pretty sure she's already done it, too, because the bathroom went from grey to fully colored in one night."

"You're being close-minded," Rachel accused. "The first step to sexual liberation is self-love. I talked about it during my seminar."

"For fifteen minutes." Kurt shuddered. "With appropriate hand movements and visual aid."

Rachel grinned. "Bill really did an outstanding job on that series, didn't he? I was thinking we could recruit him again when we hold our next lesson."

"Mr. Johnson's not really interested in realistic paintings anymore. Last I knew, he was experimenting with impressionism." Kurt frowned. "No, wait, _ex_pressionism."

"Whatever," Rachel handwaved. "The important thing is that there's going to be another lesson."

"I guess," Kurt grumbled. "So long as it's-"

"At your own speed," Rachel finished for him. "You've told me already, Kurt, but your own speed is _glacial_."

Kurt crossed his arms. "Don't you have geography?"

Rachel sweetly flipped him the bird and walked off.

"This place has terrible influence on you," Kurt yelled after her.

"Does it now?"

Kurt put his hand over his heart, glaring at Blaine who'd just showed up next to him. "You've got to stop that." He looked to where Rachel had disappeared around the corner then back to Blaine. "Wait, are you _hiding_ from her?"

Blaine's guilty expression gave him away. "Not _hiding_."

"Just avoiding." Kurt was not going to be happy about this. No way. He was far too classy for schadenfreude. "I would've thought after you two had sex that you'd be closer than ever."

Blaine's eyes widened. "We didn't have sex."

"Oh." Kurt smiled despite his best efforts. "Not that Mary Sue told me you did, I just assumed something had happened."

"Nothing happened," Blaine said empathetically.

Kurt nodded, trying to look unaffected. He _was_ unaffected. This didn't concern him in the least. "Didn't you want to?"

An unreadable expression crossed Blaine's face. "I suppose-"

"Don't suppose," Kurt interrupted. "Just tell me what you felt."

"Not really," Blaine admitted. "I like kissing Mary Sue. It's nice. But I can't imagine wanting to do anything more."

"Nice," Kurt deadpanned. "I don't have the most experience, in fact all of my kisses have ranged from dull to terrifying, but I'm pretty sure that if you're kissing the right person, it should be more than just nice."

Blaine worried his lower lip between his teeth. "But I've always liked Mary Sue that way."

The bell rang, cutting off Kurt's response.

"We'll talk about this later," he swore.

He ran around the corner, almost bumping into Rachel. She stood leaning against the wall, her arms crossed and her expression furious.

Which could only mean one thing.

"You were eavesdropping."

"And you were trying to convince my boyfriend to break up with me," Rachel hissed. "I can't believe you'd try and pull something like this on me again. At least with Finn, we hadn't become friends yet."

Kurt scowled. "You mean the same Finn you were calling the love of your life just two weeks ago?"

"That's got nothing to do with this," Rachel argued.

"You're right," Kurt agreed. "So quit comparing him to Blaine. Finn is straight."

Rachel clenched her jaw. "So is Blaine. Don't forget that he was made to be _my _love interest."

Kurt laughed, the sound completely devoid of joy or humor. "He was made to be Mary Sue's love interest. You're not Mary Sue and this Blaine is not the same Blaine who wanted to ask her out or give her his school pin. He's a different person."

"Maybe," Rachel grudgingly allowed. "But he's no less straight than he was before, so you need to back off Blaine and respect our relationship."

"I wasn't hitting on your boyfriend," Kurt groaned, his traitorous mind adding: '_Not today anyway.'_

"I just wanted to make sure." Rachel flashed him a tiny smirk. "I know you've had issues with boundaries in the past."

_Issues with boundaries._ Those words hit Kurt like a slap across the face. Reality began to sink in. Was she right? Had he been projecting something onto Blaine, the way he had with Finn and Sam? Only seeing what he wanted to see, using every opportunity to cultivate that image in his mind. Had he been making Blaine uncomfortable all along with his long eye contacts and inappropriate closeness? He'd been so sure that it was reciprocated, but what if he was wrong?

He couldn't afford it if he was wrong. Rachel was right, he needed to back off.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N:** Chapter 9! I don't fully know when I'll be posting chapter 10, but sometime next week probably.

* * *

**Chapter 9**

That Saturday night, Rachel dropped a bomb at the dinner table.

"I won't be going to church tomorrow."

George dropped his fork. Betty, who had been staring intently into her casserole, snapped to attention, her expression horrorstruck.

"Neither will I," Kurt added. Rachel glanced at him in confusion but he just shrugged. "I don't believe in God."

Betty whimpered, her hand flying up to cover her mouth.

"I _do _believe in God," Rachel shot in, to the visible relief of their parents. "But I don't believe in Jesus. I'm Jewish."

"Goodness," Betty muttered.

"That is unacceptable," George said, trying his best to sound stern. He hit his fist on the table for good measure. "No one in this family is skipping church."

"We are." Rachel put her knife and fork delicately away and stood up. "I would appreciate it if you could inform everyone of the reason behind our decision. I had intended for Bud to do it," she glared in his direction, "but since he's joining me, it falls on your shoulders as our parents."

She walked out of the dining room and Kurt followed, smiling apologetically at George and Betty.

"That was kind of unfair of you," he said once they were on the second floor, "making it their responsibility."

Rachel put her hands on her hips, trying to cover her discomfort. "They're adults, Kurt. I think they can handle it."

* * *

The next morning, Kurt and Rachel joined up in Mary Sue's bedroom early and locked themselves in. For a few hours, all the way up until the mass was about to start, Betty and George knocked and pleaded but the teens remained resolute.

"I hate to do this to them," Kurt admitted when the adults had finally gone.

Rachel sat on her bed and pulled up a book. "I do, too, but if we're going to change things we have to stand firm on our ground. We need to shock people into reacting."

"And then we get hung in the town square."

"Funny," Rachel sniped. "They're not going to hurt us. Peggy Jane almost said 'damn' the other day and spent the next ten minutes crying. Not one of them has a mean bone in their body."

"Not one of them was sexually active," Kurt reminded her. "For the first time in their lives, their ignorance is being challenged. Some of them adapt and learn but others get scared. You know what follows that fear? Anger. Hatred. I've seen it happen, Rachel. I've had that hatred taken out on me."

"We've all gotten bullied," Rachel stated. She wasn't talking about Pleasantville anymore.

Kurt frowned and sat down by the vanity. His stomach ached and it was that same, slow hurt that showed up whenever he realized that his friends didn't notice half the things Karofsky did to him. They didn't understand and Kurt didn't try to explain it to them. "Right. I know."

Rachel looked very much like she wanted to say something but instead she hung her head and opened her book. The action reminded Kurt of Blaine and now he felt a pain of a different kind right in his chest. He'd done his best for the past week to distance himself from Blaine without avoiding him. It was exhausting but Kurt couldn't stand the thought of hurting the other boy any more than he already had.

* * *

Betty and George returned from mass looking a little sad but no worse for wear. The family had lunch together and then Rachel ran right out the door, rambling something about a mission. Kurt was less than thrilled with the thought of spending a whole afternoon stuck in the house, so he went to the Soda Shop.

On his way there, Kurt could tell he was attracting some looks. That was the problem with taking over the role of the main character: absolutely everyone knew who he was and if he missed so much as one step of his routine, they'd all be sure to hear about it.

Still, negative attention certainly wasn't anything new to him so he had an easy time brushing it off. People mostly looked confused, anyway. Kurt was just about to reach the Soda Shop when he saw a man standing across the street, staring at him. It took him a couple of seconds to recognize him.

"Big Bob," Kurt muttered and he could've sworn that the man nodded at the name. "The Mayor of Pleasantville."

They stared at each other for a few moments more, then the Mayor turned away and walked off. Feeling oddly victorious, Kurt entered the Soda Shop.

And immediately, every eye in the place was on him. Larry Williams played on the jukebox but aside from that, not a sound could be heard.

Kurt drew a deep breath and went up to the counter where Mr. Johnson stood. "Could I have a cherry coke?"

Mr. Johnson hesitated. "Sure, Bud," he agreed with a smile. "Anything else?"

"No, thank you," Kurt said, sitting down on a bar stool. He was trying to convey that he really wasn't up for answering any questions and fortunately, the others seemed to get the message as their conversations started up again.

The bell at the entrance rang again and Kurt turned his head slightly to see Blaine enter. The other boy grinned at him and went to sit next to him. He turned his bar stool in Kurt's direction, which meant that their knees were touching. Kurt reluctantly pulled away.

"I didn't see you at church," Blaine started casually.

Kurt snorted. "Didn't Betty and George tell you?"

Blaine looked lost for a moment. Then he got it. "You mean your mom and dad?" He shrugged. "They said that Mary Sue had gotten some crazy notion in her head about being Jewish and that you went along with it."

"So Judaism is known around here," Kurt mused. Rachel would be pissed to know that, she'd probably been hoping to introduce another completely foreign concept to Pleasantville. Although she'd in all likelihood still be the first person in town practicing Judaism. "And I'm actually not Jewish. I don't believe in God at all."

"Oh." Blaine fidgeted uncomfortably in his seat.

"We could talk about something else?" Kurt offered.

Blaine let out a nervous chuckle. "Yes, please."

* * *

"How can I _still _be grey?"

Kurt rolled his eyes and leaned against the flag pole. Another morning, another problem for Miss Rachel Berry. "Maybe you didn't spread your message of religious freedom thoroughly enough."

"But I spent all of yesterday after mass going around town and telling people about the Jewish faith," Rachel whined into her handheld mirror, clearly deaf to sarcasm at the moment.

"Maybe you need to actually have sex, then," Kurt said, "and not just imply you did."

Rachel snapped her mirror shut, ignoring the obvious jab. "I even talked to the Mayor."

"Really?" That was interesting news at least. "What did he say?"

"He told me that I'd never find a husband if I spent all my time skipping church and spreading lies."

Kurt wisely held back his laughter. At that moment, two bulky, grey boys in letterman jackets walked past them, shooting them the dirtiest looks. "At least you had some affect."

"I know," Rachel lamented, "you told me this would happen and I didn't listen."

Kurt patted her shoulder. "Look on the bright side: civilization didn't collapse."

"Does that mean you're ready to come out?" At Kurt's annoyed glare, Rachel held up her hands. "I'm just asking."

"I might as well," Kurt conceded. "I think the lines are pretty much drawn at this point; all the kids who showed up for our seminar still seem fine with us."

As if on cue, Blaine walked into their line of sight. Rachel's lips widened in a predatory grin. "I'll be right back."

She ran up to Blaine and Kurt immediately turned his head to look elsewhere. Across the school yard, two people stood in a passionate embrace. Kurt recognized one of them as Lisa Anne.

_'Funny,'_ a devious voice whispered to him, '_Wasn't Lisa Anne meant to be Bud's love interest? Yet there she is, swapping spit with someone else. It's almost like that kind of thing doesn't matter anymore.'_

"Quiet," Kurt hissed out loud. He closed his eyes and banged his head against the flag pole. Why was it so much more difficult to be by himself here than in Lima? He wasn't being bullied or threatened with physical violence, yet he felt much more out of sorts. He'd never resorted to talking to the voices in his head at McKinley.

* * *

While the classes at Pleasantville High School could never be called challenging, Kurt liked attending them all the same. Rachel, being a year younger than him in this universe, didn't share any of them with him. Blaine, on the other hand, did.

They sat next to each other in almost every class, making it easy to pass notes. Blaine had been a little bit reluctant at the idea of having any kind of conversation during class but he'd soon taken a liking to it. He'd only ever replied to Kurt's notes, though, until today.

_Mary Sue wants to go to Lover's Lane again tonight._

Kurt read it and frowned. Why was Blaine telling him this? Another note landed on his desk, much more obvious than the last but the teacher had her back turned and didn't notice.

_I think she wants to do _it.

Kurt's hand twitched to clench around the note and throw it at the nearest trashcan. He wrote a quick reply.

_Congratulations_.

From the corner of his eye, he could see Blaine trying to catch his attention but he ignored it, focusing on the blackboard in front of him which now read: X+Y=?

A third note flew over Kurt's head. It landed on the floor next to him. He didn't pick it up.

* * *

The bell rang and Bud was out of the classroom in an instant, leaving Blaine behind. Blaine grasped his stomach, feeling that strange ache he always got when his best friend ignored him. He couldn't understand what he'd done wrong this time but he suspected that it had something to do with Mary Sue.

Mary Sue, who wanted to have sex with him. Mary Sue, who was awfully good at kissing but never made Blaine warm the way the other boys described it. He only felt that way around Bud. Maybe he was broken.

He got out into the hallway, which was full of people. Johnny ran past him, all color from head to toe, and gave Blaine a friendly smile. Blaine smiled back. He always smiled back, even when he didn't feel like it.

"There you are."

Blaine closed his eyes automatically and Mary Sue kissed him hello.

She brushed a stray lock from her face and looked up through her eyelashes. "Have you given my offer any consideration?"

She would be so upset with him if he said no. The thought hurt but not nearly as much as having Bud avoid him.

But Bud had been avoiding him long before Mary Sue asked to go parking at Lover's Lane. He'd been growing more and more distant ever since he told Blaine that kissing was supposed to be more than just nice. Would anything change if Blaine told Mary Sue yes?

"I don't want to go to Lover's Lane," Blaine answered, not able to lie. Mary Sue's smile crumbled and the ache in Blaine's chest grew. He had to make this up to her. "But you could come to my house? It's bridge night at Mr. and Mrs. Scott's and my parents won't be home from seven to nine."

Mary Sue's eyes widened. "Y-your house?"

"Only if you want to," Blaine hurriedly reassured her.

"I want to," Mary Sue said, looking defensive. She gave him a shy smile. "I'll see you then?"

Blaine nodded and tried his best to smile back.

* * *

Kurt hadn't tried to talk Rachel out of it when she told him she was going over to Blaine's. He'd just sighed and told her _"do whatever you need to do"._ It was a relief, really. She shouldn't have to try and justify her decision. It was a huge step, sure, but she was ready for it. Ready to lose her virginity.

She walked up to the Anderson house at ten minutes past seven. She rang the doorbell and knocked a couple of times, just in case. Blaine came to the door, looking handsome as ever, stepped aside to let her in and offered to take her jacket.

He was a perfect gentleman. Rachel couldn't think of a better boyfriend to have her first time with. Even if he hadn't told her he loved her yet (_'But neither have I'_), it was clear from his every gesture that he adored her.

They sat on the couch in the living room. Rachel made the first move. She always did. They kissed for a short while, comfortably sitting on the couch with a good few inches between most of their bodies, except for Rachel's hand on Blaine's knee. It felt good. Nice. She could do this.

Blaine pulled away first. "Do you want to come upstairs?"

"Do you?"

Blaine blinked and Rachel huffed in frustration at herself. She'd gotten nervous and blurted out the first thing that came to mind. All she had to do was say _yes_, one simple word, and the night could begin. The most wonderful, memorable, magical, no-good, terrible, horrible_ oh God what was she doing_.

"Not really."

"I'm sorry, Blaine, I- wait, what?" Rachel pulled her hand away. "What did you say?"

"Not really," Blaine repeated sheepishly.

Rachel closed her eyes. "Oh, thank God."

"I don't understand."

"I was doing this for all the wrong reasons," Rachel explained. "I thought I was ready to have sex but I'm really, _really_ not. I told myself I was because I was getting impatient. I don't want to be grey anymore but I don't know how to fix it."

"I don't think you need fixing," Blaine assured her. "You're beautiful either way."

Rachel nodded, blinking back tears. "Thank you." She inhaled deeply and pulled herself together. "I guess it's another night of just kissing, then?"

She reached for Blaine's shoulders, but he grabbed her hands and gently steered them back to her lap. "Since we're being honest," he said, his voice sounding very small, "I think there's something I should tell you."

Rachel felt her heart stutter. Was he about to... ? But it couldn't be. She'd been right, Kurt had all but admitted it. Blaine was _her _love interest. He was made for _her_.

But he wasn't, was he? Kurt had told her so but she'd been too stubborn to listen. Too stubborn to see that all along, Blaine had been interested in one person and one person only.

"I don't think I like you that way."

His voice sounded so far away. She had to respond.

"Bud," she whispered. "You like Bud."

Blaine looked frightened. He nodded once, slowly, as if it took all his strength. "But I don't know why. We're both boys."

He looked down and Rachel followed his gaze. His hands sat on his knees, trembling.

Rachel could feel her heart break into a million pieces. She had no right to be hurting right now. Blaine had been scared and alone for so long, and when Kurt tried to help him, she'd shut him down. This was all her fault. "It's okay."

"Is it?" Blaine asked. He sounded doubtful but the fear on his face was beginning to fade. "But... I want to kiss him."

"That's okay, too." Rachel took one of Blaine's trembling hands in hers. "It doesn't matter whether the person you like is a boy or a girl. Either way it's love, and love is never a bad thing."

Blaine swallowed, looking near tears. "I thought I was broken."

Rachel reached out to hug him and he clung to her. "You're not broken, Blaine Anderson. You're one of the bravest, most beautiful people I've ever met. And I know Bud agrees with me."

Blaine's hands steadied at Bud's name and after a couple of shaky breaths, he drew back. His mouth dropped open.

"What?" Rachel demanded. "Is it my hair?"

"Y-your nose," Blaine stuttered.

Rachel's hands flew to her face. She shrieked and stumbled to her feet, still grasping her nose as if it might disappear.

She ran into the bathroom, where the nearest mirror was and froze when she saw her reflection. She dropped her hands and stared at the girl in the mirror. Dark-haired, big-nosed, _fully-colored_.

"Oh my God," she sighed, taking it in. "It's all back."

Blaine walked up to her, paying no attention to his own grey reflection. "Back?"

Rachel squeaked. "I'll explain later." She turned and shoved him out the bathroom. "First thing's first."

Blaine's brow furrowed. "What?"

"You need to go and tell Bud how you feel," Rachel instructed.

"I do, don't I?" Blaine said, more to himself than Rachel. He drew himself to his full height, which admittedly still wasn't much. "No, I don't need to, but I want to. Right now."

Rachel laughed and clapped her hands giddily. "He's at the Soda Shop. Go get your man."

Blaine nodded resolutely and ran out the door.

Rachel hesitated for a moment, then followed, her long her whipping behind her.

* * *

"Why don't you go home early, Bud? You don't look so hot."

Kurt smiled tiredly at Mr. Johnson. "I'm fine. It's just a bit of a headache."

Of course he couldn't tell his boss the truth; that he was grieving a relationship he'd never even had a chance at because at this moment Rachel and Blaine were alone in Blaine's house, probably already naked.

Mr. Johnson reached over and tugged the paper hat off Kurt's head. "Just go home and rest. I can handle the place by myself for one night."

Kurt sighed, too exhausted to argue. He took off his apron and headed for the exit. The Soda Shop was packed as always and there was a considerable crowd of kids standing outside, getting some fresh air. Most of them waved when they saw Kurt and he returned the greeting half-heartedly.

"Are you going home already, Bud?" Peggy Jane asked.

He nodded. "Mr. Johnson gave me the rest of the night off."

"You do look kind of tired," Tommy remarked, his arm slung around Peggy's shoulder.

"Gee, thanks," Kurt said dryly. Tommy shrugged apologetically.

Peggy's eyes widened suddenly. "Is that Mary Sue?"

Kurt swirled around on the spot. Blaine was running down the street and some paces behind him was Rachel, now fully colored with her old hairstyle and - although it was hard to tell from this distance - her old nose. Kurt barely had any time to think _how_ or _why_ before Blaine stopped right in front of him, leaning on his knees and gasping for air.

"Blaine?" Kurt tried tentively. "What are you doing here?"

Blaine straightened and looked straight into Kurt's eyes. "I-"

He reached to cup Kurt's face with his right hand. It was slightly sweaty and normally Kurt would have found it gross but Blaine was touching his face, coming closer, leaning in and - oh.

Kurt's eyelids fluttered shut on instinct as their lips met and color exploded behind his eyelids. Blaine's lips were moving against his and it took Kurt a couple of moments to realize that he should be kissing him back but in all fairness, he was pretty sure his brain was leaking out of his ears because _Blaine was kissing him_.

Blaine sucked on Kurt's lower lip, making his knees go weak. He grabbed Blaine's shoulder to steady himself and used the opportunity to pull him even closer. Blaine's left hand landed on Kurt's waist, warm and heavy and perfect.

Kurt began to feel dizzy and broke the kiss. When he opened his eyes, he was greeted by the sight of the most brilliantly hazel eyes he had ever seen.

"I wanted to see you," Blaine said and it took Kurt a moment to realize that his question was being answered.

"Well, here I am," Kurt whispered, not trusting his voice to speak any louder than that.

Blaine smiled. "Here you are."


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: **Oh my God, it's been way too long. Not just on this story, either; it's been months since I last wrote anything not school-related. I've been struggling with writer's block and, as it turns out, severe depression. I'm already working on the next chapter though, so that should be along in a week or so. I also apologize for not all that much happening in this chapter, but I needed to get all this out of the way so I could get to what happens next.

* * *

**Chapter 10**

After what felt like an eternity of staring into Blaine's gorgeous eyes (although it was in all likelihood only five seconds), Kurt was rudely pulled back to reality by Rachel clearing her throat.

"Are you two done?" she asked, somehow managing to _sound_ like the cat who ate the canary.

"What was _that_?" Peggy Jane exclaimed breathlessly.

Blaine's smile got, if anything, even wider. "Love."

And okay, maybe _love_ was a little excessive after one kiss and it should have freaked Kurt out, but instead it just made his heart flutter. He could vaguely hear Rachel and Peggy coo, which probably meant that they were in the clear for now. Not that Kurt cared, when Blaine's hands were still resting on his waist and his hazel eyes were still staring into Kurt's with such intensity, he probably should have caught on fire by now.

"Your eyes are beautiful," Kurt muttered.

"So are yours," Blaine replied earnestly. "I only wish I could see what color they were."

"Glasz." At Blaine's confused look, Kurt elaborated: "It's sort of a blue-ish, green-ish..." He trailed off, his fluttering heart freezing in his chest. "Wait, I'm not in color?"

He looked down on his hands, resting on Blaine's now red shirt. Still grey. Blaine followed his gaze and inhaled sharply.

"I'm in color," he exclaimed. He looked back up at Kurt, mouth hanging slightly open in confusion. "But then why aren't you?"

"Maybe because you initiated the kiss?" Rachel suggested.

"Yeah," Peggy Jane agreed. "Bud, you should try kissing Blaine." When everyone turned to look at her, she reddened. "It might work. It couldn't hurt to try."

Kurt smiled wryly and reluctantly pulled away from Blaine. "I think we've had enough public displays of affection for now."

"At least you won't have any problems with coming out now," Rachel said. "I'm pretty sure that by tomorrow, the whole town is going to know what happened here. At least all of Mr. Johnson's clientele does."

Kurt looked over Blaine's shoulder to see several faces pressed against the window of the Soda Shop. "Can we go home, then? I'd prefer to tell Betty and George before they hear it from someone else."

"Can I come with you?" Blaine asked.

Kurt opened his mouth to answer, but Rachel silenced him with a look. "It's probably for the best, right _Bud_?" she said quietly so only Kurt could hear. "We've both got a lot to tell him."

"Right." Kurt pressed his lips together.

Blaine eyed them curiously. Kurt grabbed his hand in reassurance, squeezing it softly and earning a smile from Blaine. They waved goodbye to the still confounded crowd standing in front of and inside the Soda Shop and headed home. Rachel trailed after them, grinning from ear to ear.

"You two are so cute together," she said.

Kurt raised an eyebrow. "You're taking this whole situation weirdly well."

"Yes, well." Rachel fidgeted, looking uncomfortable. "I realize I've been sort of selfish lately. I need to start paying attention to my friends and be more supportive to them. Besides, I got the best consolation prize there is." Her expression brightened and she pointed at her nose. "I'm myself again."

"I still don't understand that," Blaine cut in.

"We'll explain it soon, sweetie," Kurt said, the endearment rolling off his lips before he had a chance to stop it. Judging by the besotted look on Blaine's face, he did not mind it one bit. Kurt was pretty sure he was sporting a matching doofy smile of his own.

But as they approached the Parker house, Kurt's smile began to fade. Who was to say how Betty and George would react when they saw him arriving hand in hand with Blaine? Should he maybe send Blaine home right now and deal with this by himself? But then Blaine would probably feel compelled to tell his own parents about their relationship (was it too soon to call it a relationship?) and Kurt didn't want him to have to face them alone, in case they reacted badly.

"Are you sure you want me to come inside with you?" Blaine asked as they arrived at the white picket fence, clearly sensing Kurt's hesitation.

"It's best you do," Rachel answered before Kurt had a chance to open his mouth. "I can't imagine Betty and George understanding what's going on unless they see it for themselves."

Kurt sighed. "Good point."

They entered the house, Rachel in the lead.

"We're home," she announced cheerfully.

There was no response.

"Mom?" Rachel tried. "Dad?"

"I-in here," came Betty's quiet response.

The trio exchanged worried looks and walked into the kitchen. Betty sat by the kitchen table, her back turned to them. Even so, there was no mistaking the brown hue to her hair, or the light blue color of her dress.

"I was hoping it would go away before you came home," Betty said, her voice wavering. "I didn't want you kids to see me like this."

Rachel rushed past Kurt and Blaine, and threw her arms around Betty's shoulders from behind. "Don't say that," she muttered. "Please don't say that."

She pulled away and Betty turned around, gasping when she saw the three teens. "I... I don't understand."

"Maybe we should take this one thing at a time," Kurt suggested, finally finding his voice. "Blaine and I will wait in the living room."

Rachel nodded. "Yeah. And maybe you could take the chance to talk to Blaine about the _other thing_?"

Kurt rolled his eyes. Rachel was anything but subtle, not that Blaine or Betty were in any danger of catching on. He tugged Blaine's hand and led him to the next room.

"Where's dad?" he heard Rachel ask.

"Bowling."

Betty and Rachel's voices were quieted as soon as they entered the living room, likely by some sort of TV magic.

"You should sit down for this," Kurt mumbled, letting go of Blaine's hand as he could feel is own start to sweat.

Blaine obediently sat, tilting his head in confusion. "What did Mary Sue mean by 'the other thing'?"

"Let's start with that." Kurt rubbed the back of his neck. "Her name isn't actually Mary Sue, it's Rachel. And mine's not Bud, it's Kurt. We're from a... an alternate dimension, or something?" He scoffed. "It sounds so sci-fi when I say it like that, but it's the truth. Where I come from, this is all a TV show. We just got... sucked into the TV somehow."

Blaine nodded, as if that made any sense. "Is that why people are turning color?"

"I guess?" Kurt sat down opposite Blaine. "That didn't start until two days after we got here. But we are probably responsible for that."

"And where you come from, you have musicals?" Blaine looked exited by the prospect. "And it's normal for boys to kiss other boys?"

"...Yeah." Kurt didn't really have the heart to burst Blaine's bubble. If he could believe that there was some magical place where being gay didn't make you different or a social outcast, why not let him?

Blaine's expression suddenly fell. "You'll be going back there some day, won't you?"

Kurt felt as if he'd walked face-first into a slushie. He hadn't thought of that since their kiss in front of the Soda Shop, but... "Yeah, as soon we're able. Rachel seems to think it'll be when the whole town has turned color and I'm inclined to agree with her."

"I don't suppose I could come with you?"

"I don't think so," Kurt said apologetically.

Blaine reached out and took Kurt's hands in his own. "Well, it'll probably take a while for all of Pleasantville to turn color." He smiled shyly. "We could go steady until then?"

In response, Kurt grinned and pulled Blaine in for another kiss.

* * *

"But then where are the real Bud and Mary Sue?"

It was all too much to take in. To think that the girl sitting across from her - Rachel, she said her name was - was a virtual stranger! Yet Betty couldn't help but admit that it made sense. It certainly wasn't the only surprise she had received as of late, although it was the biggest.

"I have no idea," Rachel said, shaking Betty from her thoughts. "Maybe in our universe. Maybe they never really existed in the first place."

"I don't quite know how to feel," Betty admitted. "You've just told me that my children are missing, but when I look at you, all I see is my daughter."

"You'll probably get her - and Bud - back as soon as Kurt and I leave." Somehow, the sentiment did little to reassure Betty. "And speaking of Kurt, he should probably tell you the rest himself. Kurt!"

"Ladies don't holler," reprimanded Betty. Rachel huffed resentfully but didn't protest.

Kurt poked his head into the kitchen and... oh. While Betty certainly felt that Rachel was her daughter, Kurt not only felt but looked the part. Still in black and white - the only person in the house, and wasn't that a strange thought - still standing tall, wearing the black bow-tie he always did when working at the Soda Shop. How could this boy be anything but her own son?

"Could you take Blaine home?" Bud - no, Kurt - asked. "He said he wanted to speak to his parents alone, but he might change his mind once he gets there."

"No problem." Rachel stood and patted Kurt's shoulder on her way out. Betty had to wonder whether they were really brother or sister where they came from. They didn't look very much alike, now that Rachel's nose had changed, but they were obviously fond of one another.

Kurt took Rachel's seat. "Rachel told you who we are?"

"She did," Betty confirmed. When a few moments passed and Kurt didn't continue, she smiled reassuringly. "She also said that there was something you wanted to tell me yourself."

"Right, I do." Kurt cleared his throat and dropped his head so his gaze was firmly locked on his lap. "Betty... mom-" Betty's heart clenched at the word, and her smile widened a bit, "-I'm gay."

He fell silent. Betty blinked. "Well, that's good, I suppose. Was that all?"

Kurt groaned quietly. "Right. When I say I'm gay, I mean that I like boys." He raised his head, meeting Betty's eyes. "As in, I like to hold hands with them and kiss them. Or him, singular, because I don't want to do it with many boys at a time." He frowned. "And not just any boy, I have standards."

Betty had never heard of such a thing before. Two boys holding hands? And kissing?

But then, a few days ago, she'd never heard of real color or masturbation either, and both things had turned out to be good. Scary, but good. And really, with Kurt staring at her with such a vulnerable look in his eyes, what else could she say?

"If it makes you happy, then it makes me happy."

She patted her son's - for in that moment, he truly was her son, no matter what anyone might say - hand. Kurt let out a shaky little laugh.

"Thank you," he said. "Truly. I- back home, I never had the opportunity to come out to my mom. I mean, my dad is fine with it, but I can't help but imagine how she might have reacted."

Betty didn't quite understand what he meant by 'coming out', but the sentiment was clear. "If she's anything like me, she would be proud."

Tears started to fall silently down Kurt's face and Betty felt a moment of panic. Bud hadn't cried since he was a little boy, and never over something that should have made him happy. Betty did the only thing she could think of, the same thing she used to do when Bud came to her with a scraped knee or a broken toy. She wrapped her arms around Kurt and stroked his hair softly.

"It's alright," she whispered. "It's all alright."


End file.
